Order and Trial
by SilentHuntress72
Summary: Art done by my friend: theShadowsAlly (IG) Centuries before the Great Wars, a company way ahead of its time created AI that were placed inside sparkless Cybertronian bodies. Or so it seems, an AI named Meister-Jzz4 onlines and is owned by the current Matrix holder of that time, Alchemist Prime. Sadly, chaos ensues before the mystery could be solved. Rating for death and gore
1. Chapter 1

The reason this fic is getting an M-rating is because it will talk about dark topics (Not as dark as my fic Two Worlds One Spark... I hope) there will be abuse of many kinds, depression, torture, and various other things. The first few chapters won't have much if any at all, but I promise I will make a warning at the beginning of each chapter that does contain a topic that may need a warning. Also this WILL have romance, but not until MUCH later. I hope you guys all enjoy this. I am working on TWOS still, I promise I will finish that fic.

Primes (In order of receiving Matrix) :

Prima

Primon

Onyx

Vector

Megatronus

Solus

Alchemist

Amalgamous

Quintus

Micronus

Nexus

Sentinel

Alpha

Time Units (Found on Tf wiki):

Astro-second: .498 seconds

Breem: 8.3 minutes

Cycle: 1.25 hours

Deca-cycle: ~3 weeks

Groon: ~1 hour

Klik: 1.2 minutes

Meta-cycle: 13 months

Orbital cycle: ~1 month

Solar cycle/lunar cycle: 1 day/1 night

Stellar cycle:~7.5 months

Deci-vorn: 8.3 years

Vorn: 83 years

* * *

Ch. 1

"This entire batch just came off the delivery truck this morning. Polyhexian models have been recently popular these last few meta-cycles; had to restock three times this last orn. All of them are installed with modifiers to help with any task you need. Got one myself, perks of being a distributor, cute little thing. Certainly, helps keep the mate distracted when I'm away." The salesmech was so thrilled to have a Prime in his store and knew he could get a decent amount of credits from him if he suckered him into buying a droid.

The Prime was a large silver mech with engravings decorating his limbs, his left servo gave off a bright blue glow while his right servo was glowing a deep orange-red. He wasn't interested in what the puny mech was saying, he was more interested to learn from the droid itself on how they came to be. They were watching the main AI droid distributor, Artificial Life, and caught wind that the founder was capturing homeless bots and turning them into mindless drones. "What is the difference between a drone and one of these droids?"

"Ah, I get that question a lot. Well, a drone has no vocal box, interface equipment, or the mental capacity to adapt to your needs. Droids are AI that we place inside frames that can be removed if need be." The small emerald green mech explained before they stopped in front of a box that instantly caught the Prime's attention. Inside the box was a small silver Polyhexian mech that had his servos tied to the back of the box and his helm was pinned to the box as well. He looked like a doll he had seen in stores for younglings that would be all tied in Hope's to appeal to the youth. The shop owner saw that his customer found a droid he seemed to like and pulled it off the rack. "Would you like me to take it out of the box? It looks like to be the AA1 model; I was told the AA models were built with harmonics and were designed for entertainment as well as anything else asked of it. This particular one seems to have the chameleon mod, not sure what that one does. Would you like a demonstration?"

The silver Prime shook his helm, "that won't be necessary. Take him out, I will take him home."

The salesmech looked a bit shaken by the sudden declaration, but when he saw the staring optics gazing at him, he quickly scanned the barcode on the back of the box. "That will be fifty shanix."

"Fifty shanix? Primus, okay fine here." The mech gave the mecha-weasel his creds before the box was opened up and he pulled the restraints off. The shopkeeper opened the silver droid's chest plate and pushed a card into a slot where a spark would be at. It took only a few moments before the sight of amber optics onlined and blinked a few times to focus on the Prime and the shopkeeper. The droid stared at them silently, knowing to not speak unless spoken to or given permission to speak. "Hello, what is your name?"

"AI do not have names master." The droid answered honestly as he maintained optic contact with the mech.

The Prime was uncomfortable with being called such a title. "Please, it is Alchemist Prime, not master. And as long as you will be my assistant, I wish you call you something besides AI or droid."

The AI adjusted its systems to adapt to its new master. "If that is what you wish. My identification number is Meister-Jzz4."

Alchemist Prime ex-vented when he realized that this creature was blunter in its words and thoughts, so he had to be more straightforward with what he was saying. "I do not care what serial number they gave you. I want to know what you wish to be called."

The droid looked confused by the mech's insistence on it having a name. "I suppose Meister will work. If that is suitable for you, Alchemist Prime."

The Prime needed to get back to his estate and work on teaching the droid the amazing wonders of nicknames. "Meister, alright. Let's return to my estate and we'll get started."

"Was there anything you wish to add to your new droid?" The shopkeeper inquired, hoping to get more from the matrix-bearer.

"I believe the shanix you stole from me is enough. Come on Meister, our shuttle is waiting." The giant mech hinted it was their time to leave. He wanted to get the droid or whatever it was at this point, study it, and then find out if the botnapping rumors held any truth or not. Meister looked at the shopkeeper silently and then held his arm out where a serial bar had been printed on the silver armor piece.

"Transfer the codes to your new master. And you better behave yourself droid, you belong to a very important mech now." Alchemist saw how quick the obnoxiously friendly attitude changed to a tone of anger when the shopkeeper interacted with the droid.

Meister knew it was not a question, therefore didn't bother with answering. The silver droid looked up at its new master and sent a short comlink burst of the master file that every AI had installed in them. Meister watched the bigger silver mech accept the burst and now it meant its entire being belonged to him. The barcode disappeared and the pair quickly left the store.

Parked in front of the building was a large shuttle where a pair of guards waited patiently. Meister wondered if he was supposed to listen to these mechs as well, or if he strictly going to listen to the Prime. Alchemist gently nudged the Polyhexian inside the shuttle before he got in beside him. One guard joined them in the back while the second occupied to drive seat.

"Sir, you know that Primon and Onyx Prime are going to scold you for purchasing an AI. And its optics are so weird. Why are they amber?" The guard leaned in closer to the silver mech and poked it in the face, and the only reaction he got from the droid was a blank stare.

Meister's processor registered the question and had to answer it. "Our optics are amber simply because they are a more insignificant color than red. Making us less than Kaonions that are seen as lesser to Iaconians. We also lack a spark, therefore do not have the CNA strand that produces either of the common optic colors."

Alchemist was baffled that the faux-mech spoke. As he stared at the amber opticed mech a hypothesis formed. "Meister, are you allowed to speak?"

The mech whipped his helm to face his code holder. "I am permitted to speak as much or as little as you deem necessary. However, I am coded to answer any and all questions regarding Artificial Life or anything about my particular systems."

This will be easier than I thought. Alchemist nodded before testing what questions he couldn't ask. "Does Artificial Life botnap mechs?"

Meister's face twisted in confusion at the question, but it went passive again. "Artificial Life does not require Cybertronians to create an AI droid. They go to Vector Sigma to retrieve the shell and a team of engineers and coding experts create the AI. We go through tests with paid technicians to assure we are properly equipped and created to perform our duties. Would you like to hear the list of duties I can perform? Or would you like a review of the master file I had sent to you before we left one of Artificial Life's distribution sites?"

"Meister, you may speak, but please allow yourself to draw in your intakes." Alchemist attempted at joking, but the silver Polyhexian looked perplexed.

"AI are not actual Cybertronians, therefore do not need to draw in air." Meister frowned even further when he reeked his code holder's field and the guard's disappointment. "Did I not answer something correctly Alchemist Prime?"

The guard bellowed in laughter while the Prime shook his helm. "No, but AL clearly didn't put humor in your coding." The red mech across from them teased the Polyhexian.

"Humor? If you wish, I can look into getting humor." Meister offered. Alchemist didn't like that he could not feel a field from the droid. He simply shook his helm and rubbed his helm in thought of how he could disprove that the droids weren't Cybertronians at one time. The shorter mech teeked that his master was upset about something, and he had to fix that. "Alchemist Prime, I apologize for upsetting you. It was not my intent to do that.'

Alchemist Prime shook his helm once again, "you have nothing to apologize for. I simply do not how any creature would be okay with slavery. The shopkeeper spoke about mods, and that you have something called the chameleon mod."

Meister sat up straighter and gestured at the side of the shuttle with a smile. "Do you feel the same for this shuttle or any Artificial intelligence or Virtual Intelligence? AI droids are like AI or VI, except we occupy a shell. I do not see my functioning as enslavement as it means I would have free will and my own thoughts. Every AI is equipped with a mod upon our introduction to our frame. My chameleon mod allows me to change my form to look identical to whoever I copy; down to their voice or the sound they make. However, I have never done a copy of anything beyond cyberwolves or microcassettes. Would you like for me to show you my modification when we arrive at your estate?"

"If you don't mind and then we can get to know each other some more. How do you like your energon? Oh, well I suppose you don't know yet. Perhaps I'll ask for an assortment." Alchemist Prime tapped one of his blue digits on his bearded chin in thought.

The AI droid shook his helm, "we cannot function on energon. When we are in our shells we require only oil. Outside our shells, we do not require any fuel."

"If Alchemist did something you did not like, would you hurt him?" The guard that was driving glanced over his shoulder before refocusing on the road.

"AI are incapable of harming their code holders. I have no reason to not like Alchemist Prime. AI were created to make Cybertronian lives easier." Meister spoke honestly before looking up at Alchemist with a very slight tilt of his helm. "However, if Alchemist Prime believes I am a danger or am malfunctioning in any way, he can initiate code red and my cores will deactivate."

The Prime didn't think that it could be possible that the innocent droid could be that much of a danger to him. "I'll show you where you will be recharging. Backdraft, have premium oil delivered for Meister. If there is anything that you believe that you think the estate or yourself need, make a list and you may go to the shopping district in Iacon. Are you able to have access to funds if I give you the codes to my accounts?"

"If you give them to me then yes. Are there any areas that I am not permitted to go?" Meister questioned before the shuttle pulled into a long stretch of road that led to a large manor that was surrounded by fields with another building in the distance. Alchemist saw how Meister's optics glowed when his optics landed on his property. He turned to look at Alchemist Prime with a bit of a smile. "Your home is very beautiful, Alchemist Prime."

"This will be your home too Meister, and as such you will be able to explore all of the property. I am not home a lot of the time and when I am, I'm doing work. Backdraft and Turbolight will be following me around when I need to go places, but there is other staff here that can answer any questions you have. How far does your comlink work?" The Prime asked and Meister swiped his digits across his neck and a black band fizzled into view.

Meister felt around for something before pressing a button. He swiped his digits across it again and it disappeared from view. "My comlink is standard equipment. There is also a tracker embedded in it." He looked down at his lap silently before looking back at the giant. "May I ask as to why you purchased me? You had asked me if Artificial Life took Cybertronians off the streets and turned them, and you had mentioned experiments."

"That is correct, the Council and I had gotten word that AL was converting the less fortunate of our kind to creators yours. I bought you to see if it was true or not. I'm giving you a chance to experience or re-experience freedom."

"So, I am an experiment? Were there not any duties you would like me to do?" Meister tilted his helm.

"We'll figure something out, but for today and tomorrow I want you to relax and know your way around." Alchemist said to him as if he was talking to a new employee, but he saw how Meister sort of went rigid before relaxing after a few kliks.

The droid looked outside and he saw his reflection. His optics caught his attention. He looked over his shoulder. "Alchemist Prime, would you prefer if my optics were covered? Or changed them to blend in better? I do not wish for your peers to dislike you for owning me."

"Like I said we'll figure it out, but if you wish we can have some visors made for you." Alchemist suggested and Meister looked interested. The shuttle pulled up alongside the wide stairs that led up to the doors. Backdraft opened the door and got out first before Alchemist Prime stepped out, followed by Meister. "Turbolight, after you park the shuttle you can head home. Backdraft did you order that oil?"

"Yes sir, it will take twenty-four groons to deliver. There is standard oil that the kitchen staff uses for the oil cakes in the kitchen of Meister needs it." Backdraft wasn't sure why his boss was so interested in the droid, but he wasn't going to question it too much.

Meister was silent as the trio walked up to the steps until he answered the unspoken question when the Cybertronians had moved on. "My reserves are at fifty-six percent." The guard shouted and jumped when remembered that there was another presence.

"Don't. Do that! Primus, you are worse than Solus." Backdraft had a servo on his chest and his other servo resting on his knee. Alchemist was bellowing in laughter.

"I'm sorry, I had to look through over four hundred fifty thousand files. This body is new to me, but after approximately a solar cycle I will be able to find everything at a much faster rate." The AI answered and something caught his attention. He went over to the wall where a small arachnid was spinning its web. The droid quickly, but carefully scooped the creature in his servos. "Is this dangerous to Alchemist Prime's health? Should I exterminate it?"

Alchemist Prime was quick to snatch the arachnid from the startled droid's servos. "No, no we do not kill innocent lives! Come on, I need to show you something. Backdraft, you can head home. Oh, and take this outside." The large mech handed the arachnid in the other mech's servo.

"Got it Prime." Backdraft left as Alchemist Prime guided a slightly stunned Polyhexian down the hall and to a conservatory that was filled with cyber-organic plants as well as a cabinet near the back of the glass room that contained minerals and crystals. Meister was taken to the workbench that was standing in the middle of the open room. There was only one stool, which told Meister that this was Alchemist Prime's personal area. The Prime pulled the stool between them and patted it, and Meister sat down with perfect posture.

The Prime opened his chest to reveal an orange ball that sat just above his spark. He saw how the other's amber optics brightened when he came face to face with the Matrix. Alchemist didn't normally remove the relic, but he was going to use it to test the AI. Every living creature would react to feeling almost whole or happy when close to it. "Meister, this is the Matrix of Leadership. It's an old relic that is used to protect Cybertron in its darkest hour. It has chosen only several before choosing me to protect it, therefore protecting all life on Cybertron. It will remain in my care until my time to rejoin Primus comes or it finds someone worthier than I."

He carefully placed it in the silver droid's servos. There was no soft humming or glow like when it would come into contact with an actual Cybertronian. Either Artificial Life is good at converting Cybertronians into drones or they are just ahead of the times. Meister looked like an innocent sparkling when he looked at the Matrix. "How can you tell who to protect? Is all life worth protecting?"

"Everyone deserves a second chance, but there are some evils in the world that have to be stopped at any cost. Sparklings, younglings, the wildlife no matter how they may treat you deserves to live. Unless your life or another's life in danger can you kill. Grown bots, like myself, are harder to determine whether to give a chance or not. Do you understand Meister?" The taller mech took back the Matrix and placed it back inside his chest.

Meister thought quietly before nodding. "Unless my life or another's is in danger do not kill. Even though AI are not Cybertronians, do we deserve chances?"

"You may not have a spark, but you live on Cybertron and I took an oath to give all creatures of our planet a chance to live." Alchemist put a servo on Meister's shoulder and gave the AI a friendly smile. Meister looked outside silently before looking back up with a smile. "Now, you let's talk about this pompous posture and tone. I don't know what they taught you in the AL facilities, but you can relax and be freer with your speech. You don't have to use my full name, just like I don't use yours. It's called a nickname; for example, Turbolight often goes by Turbo and then Backdraft goes by Draft on occasion."

The AI thought it was weird that they would shorten their names. "Are Cybertronians that busy that they cannot use another's full name?"

Alchemist started laughing with a shake of his helm and a wave of his servos. "No, No that is not it at all. Nicknames are used as a sign of friendship, most times anyway. Other times it is meant to be mean."

"How can you tell?" Meister was getting into his lesson on Cybertronians, and the Prime could tell from all of the questions that he certainly got a curious one.

"The tone they use. Now that you know what nicknames are, why don't we start by you giving me one?" Alchemist Prime was curious to see what the other would come up with.

Meister took in what he had learned and tapped his chin in thought. He looked up and sat up even straighter if that was even possible. "Alch."

"Alch? Interesting. Now your posture." Alchemist shook the slender shoulders until he was slightly sitting slouched, but he looked more relaxed than before. "There, now you'll look more like a mech and not a… well, a drone."

The Polyhexian bowed his helm briefly and when he looked back up his amber optics were now a bright blue. Alchemist saw how just from the small change, the body rippled like it was moving. "When my mod is activated my frame nanites activate no matter how small or visible my changes are. Is there anything you would like me to change?"

"Meister, you do not need to change yourself for anyone else but yourself. When you change your form, can it be only of things you've seen, or can you make the form you take your own?" Alchemist decided to get started on gathering the data he needed for the investigation. He turned to his work station and grabbed a datapad with excitement.

The AI frowned his code holder's lack of enthusiasm on him changing his looks, but he changed his optics back and maintained optic contact once again. "All of my personal information is located in the master file I had given you. As for my mod, if I see enough of the different races of Cybertronians, I can make this frame look unique."

"I'll look at the file later, I prefer to not rely on another's notes without gathering my own data first. You had said that your kind were placed in technician frames, could you elaborate?" The mech was typing rapidly on the pad. Meister thought it was a bit inconvenient on the other's part, but so far everything involving this mech was confusing.

The silver Polyhexian opened his chest and pointed to where the shopkeeper had pushed the disc in. "This contains my actual form to say. You could say that we are removable mods for Cybertronians; when we are placed in the data port we can communicate with the bot that we are placed in, expand their field, and exchange information. I was placed inside a mech that was both blind and paralyzed prior to me being implanted, and I gave him the ability to move and see again."

"Would your mod be transferred to essentially your host?" Alchemist got in close to get closeup shots of Meister's internals. He touched the rim of the disc, getting a shiver from the Polyhexian. "What is an AA model?"

"Our mods are installed into our chosen frames and our coding contains the file that the information would go into. When we are placed in Cybertronian, we have only half the coding, so it will come up in your systems as a corrupted file." Meister saw the Matrix bearer pull away and he closed his chest plate. "AA models are entertainers; pleasure bots, musicians, artists, actors, or dancers. Each model gets the general upgrades and implants to preform, but then they are randomly selected to be placed into smaller subgroups. As an AA1 model, I both sing, dance, and play any instrument. Even though I am of that specific subgroup, I can do what the rest of the models do."

Alchemist rolled his optics at the mention of pleasure bots. He didn't understand why everything needed to interface. He didn't mind making love, but he wanted his partners to do it on their own free will and not because they were built for it. "So out of your… models, you were the first to be created. How many tests does AL put you through before sending you to distributors?"

"They have us go through five hundred tests in the virtual space before another seven hundred tests with the technicians." Meister was fine before he looking away with almost a guilty frown.

"What is it Meister?"

The droid shook his helm and returned to his sturdy posture. "It's nothing, I will be stepping out of line and do not wish to anger you or risk your position, Alchemist Prime."

The Prime didn't know what happened, but he knew fear when he saw it. He figured it would be best to drop the subject for now. "Well that's okay, we can talk more about that later. Why don't we go get some fuel and I'll show you where you'll be recharging?"

Meister nodded and they left the conservatory. The AI didn't know why he didn't tell him what had bothered him, let alone what he was happening to him. He gazed around to get a hint as to what sort of things that Alchemist Prime enjoyed to talk about or do. "May I ask questions?"

"Haven't you been on your own… free will?" Alchemist whispered the last two words and almost a light bulb lit.

"You still have yet to tell me my duties. What would you like me to do?" Meister stopped examining his environment and focused on Alchemist again.

"Okay, okay if you _need _to know. I would like you to be my assistant, help me keep schedule, assist me with any experiments I will be doing, and be my plus one for any social events I go to." The Prime saw how Meister's optics almost dimmed and then glowed brightly when he gained new information. _So that's how they adapt to us. Observe, ask, adapt._

Meister looked at him with a smile. "Then tomorrow I will come up with a list of ingredients you are running low on in the conservatory. I had logged over thirty different minerals and seven crystals that you are either low or out of."

The Prime looked at the AI in surprise. They had only been sitting down and had a conversation. _How? Sensors perhaps? Did he look around when we stepped in the room?_ "After refueling I'll give you the codes to my accounts. Meister, how many AI did AL create?"

"Four hundred thousand trials, but the first successful batch was the Vinita VI's six vorns of Artificial Life's founding that were used around Cybertron before they were forced to do a recall after several were returned for accounts of malfunctioning. Following those events, AL created the industrial AI cleaners that can still be seen in factories. The first AI droid is still seen with Founder Gearshaft, he was created forty vorns before the announced the AI droid project." Meister explained in full before adding. "If you are interested in knowing, even though our frames are new, we are actually all created at the same time. We're… I… never mind, forget it."

"Hmm. Okay Meister, I will not push you into telling me what you are so scared of since we have only just met, so I will let you tell me when you fell you can trust me." He put a servo on the Polyhexian's back.

Meister twitched slightly under the massive servo, but his trained blank expression was still on point. "AI have no emotions. I was just faced with a firewall that is preventing me from speaking on a certain topic. May I ask that we move onto another topic before I glitch?"

"Of course." Alchemist led his new assistant to a small lounge that was decorated with shelves filled with datapads and random knickknacks. There was a table sitting in front of a curved window that looked over a side field. In the center of the room was a low-rise table with a board in the center with cushions stuffed underneath. There were couches and arm chairs surrounding the table as well as around the room. "This is the lounge; I don't normally occupy this room outside of entertaining guests or to read. We can play a game of Fullstasis while we are waiting for our energon and oil to be prepared. I've asked you plenty of questions about you, did you have anything you'd like to ask me?"

Meister sat on the couch beside the large mech. "I… am not sure what to ask as I learn everything, I need assist you from scanning your environment. Though, I suppose I so have one question. Are you good at hacking electronics?"

"Uh well I'm no expert, but I do have a good friend that is considered an expert hacker. Why?" Alchemist asked with a weirded out look on his face.

As the little Polyhexian went to answer, he quickly shot to his peds and looked at Alchemist. "What would you like in your energon Alchemist Prime?"

"Scorched amethyst? Meister, why are you a-"

"I'll get it right away." Meister turned and took two steps forward before stopping and returned to the couch with his servos folding on his lap. "I apologize for that."

Alchemist nodded, "could you explain what that was?" The door opened and one of the kitchen staff carried over a silver serving tray with a large glass of blue energon with shards of blackened amethyst floating in the liquid. Beside the glass was a smaller glass of hot oil. "Thank you, Stardust."

"They watch us. It's how they control malfunctions and the broken ones. I do not wish to be restarted as it would mean all previous skills and memories will be evaluated and erased. And I would not be in this body again as it will be destroyed for potential viruses and malware." The silver mech explained and looked at the oil thoughtfully. "They put us into a stasis like state before boxing us up, but they forget sometimes. That's all I'll say, I apologize."

"We'll have to send for my friend, the things discussed among the Council members are secret to the public. And I don't want Artificial Life discovering that we are watching them. Meister, will you tell me when they do that again? Do they do anything else to check up on you?"

The silver mechs grabbed their respective drinks. The droid drank it politely until it was completely empty. Alchemist started laughing which got Meister to look up in confusion. "What is so funny?"

"We'll have to work on your drinking. You can take your time; we are in no hurry." He grabbed a cloth napkin that was folded neatly on the tray, and wiped the droid's upper lip before tossing it back on the empty tray. "There."

"Oh, thank you. And they check every five groons. I was installed with the top tier levels for the skills I have, and know every ancient song as well as current ones. I, however, do not know how to play games. Could you teach me, Alch?" Meister's lengthy statement turned question went noticed by the Prime, and he chuckled once more as he moved the tray to the arm of the couch.

"Meister, sometimes mystery or letting others find out about you in little increments is better than dumping it all on them." Alchemist pulled the cushions out for them to sit on. "Like this, before I became a Prime, I was a chemist at the Uraya medical institute."

Meister smiled and started tapping his chin in thought before quickly turning to give it a second try. "I want to forget one skill and learn it on my own. Having it all installed into me, makes me… feel like a cheater."

"Great job! Well I think learning how to communicate will be good for now. Once you feel a bit more comfortable with expressing yourself, then we'll come back to that wish." The Prime could see the pure happiness in those amber optics.

"That would be- I mean… thank you." Meister watched how Alchemist set the board up, wanting to memorize it all so he could better play with the Prime. "How old are you?"

"I have been online for thirty vorns. And you?" The mech asked before explaining the basic rules of the game.

Meister nodded or reiterated everything back to make sure he was understanding correctly. "I have been active for seven vorns. Backdraft said that Primon and Onyx will be mad at you for buying me. Who are they? Are they good?"

"Primon was the second to guard the Matrix and Onyx was the fifth. They will most likely frown upon it as we see it as slavery, but they also understand how I work. And they are good, all of the Primes before me are good." He made the first move and Meister moved his piece. "Going head on, interesting strategy. Why not sneak around?"

"I believe you had said to give some mystery. Therefore, I cannot tell you as that would ruin the mystery." Meister explained with a concentrated expression before glancing up with a smile. "Is my small talk improving?"

Alchemist exploded in laughter with his red servo going to his helm as nodded. Once he calmed down, he finally made his move. "Yes, it is improving. Would you like to go out to the marketplace on the way to the Prime tower tomorrow?"

"I am coming with you to work? What about the observers? They will know." Meister frowned slightly.

"Until I get ahold of my friend, I can have you keep yourself busy in my office." Alchemist suggested as he played his next move, getting Meister's third piece. The AI looked at Alchemist with an unphased gaze as he took one of the larger mech's stronger pieces and knocked it off the board with one of his. The Prime gawked and stared at the board before chuckling, Meister copied the laughter though it sounded much lighter his. "I suppose I should have predicted you to have calculated different strategies, huh? Well if you are going to play hard then I'll have to play harder next time."

Meister nodded and helped pick up the game. "Would I be allowed to learn about the Matrix and the history of it?"

"You said they check up every five groons, we spent a groon playing, I suppose I could let you for a couple groons. A lot of the history is sacred knowledge, so you can't let anyone know about it." The Prime knew he shouldn't trust anyone that he had only spent a few groons with, but something told him that he could.

"I promise." Once the promise was made, Meister was going to take the Matrix's secrets to his offlining. He didn't want to be one of the bad guys, especially when Alchemist has taught him so much already. "Alch, can I tell you about the master list?"

The larger mech nodded and patted on the couch as he moved onto it. Meister moved up and folded his servos on his lap with a very neat posture. Alchemist chuckled behind sealed lips, admiring the AI's determination to keep to his stature despite their little lesson on his posture. "When we give our new… code holders they have immediate access to our systems. Only our code holder can use our codes unless I give them out to others, but that will cause confusion for my systems. If there is something you want my immediate attention on, you would say code: black. If my systems are either getting too cold or too hot, the you'd say code: white. Code: yellow when you believe I am crossing a line. You already know what happens you announce code: red. Code: purple is used to activate my interface equipment. And finally, code: blue to do a system check or update when I need it. Do you want to see what I look like outside of this frame? I would also like to truly test my mod." Meister tilted his helm when he asked before sitting up with a smile.

The Prime nodded in thought, finding that the only code that he would ever really use was white as the other ones grazed the path of darkness. "Why don't we go outside and test that? As for your question, perhaps a later time would be better. Excuse me for saying that I don't want another in my own systems."

"Perhaps when you trust me some more and we see your friend to fix me?" The Polyhexian looked at his digits with a thoughtful expression in his optics. "Alchemist, can I ask a question in regards to the Kaonions? If the Council do not support slavery, why are they slaves?"

Alchemist rubbed the back of his helm with a heavy ex-vent. "Primus, that is a loaded question Meister. They aren't exactly slaves; they are just not treated right. Which is not a good thing, but they have tendencies to be aggressive, which isn't their fault. A long time ago, a race called the Quintessons and they built the first Kaonions to be their warriors. After conquering many worlds, they built the Iaconians to do the slave work. And then one solar cycle both races snapped and worked together to rid themselves of the same enemy." He was explaining as they walked through the halls that led to the back of the manor. "And then the alliance just faded with my people doing the same thing to our brothers and sisters. There isn't much we can do, the people will either hate the council which means the Matrix is endanger."

Meister looked at his peds and then looked up. "I think I understand, but if your kinds were all slaves at one point then why have slavery still?"

"I don't know Meister, I really do not know." Alchemist rested a blue servo on the droid's shoulder.

* * *

Let me know what your thoughts are :) If you'd like more let me know down in the comments :)


	2. Chapter 2

The reason this fic is getting an M-rating is because it will talk about dark topics (Not as dark as my fic Two Worlds One Spark... I hope) there will be abuse of many kinds, depression, torture, and various other things. The first few chapters won't have much if any at all, but I promise I will make a warning at the beginning of each chapter that does contain a topic that may need a warning. Also this WILL have romance, but not until MUCH later. I hope you guys all enjoy this. I am working on TWOS still, I promise I will finish that fic.

Primes (In order of receiving Matrix) :

Prima

Primon

Onyx

Vector

Megatronus

Solus

Alchemist

Amalgamous

Quintus

Micronus

Nexus

Sentinel

Alpha

Time Units (Found on Tf wiki):

Astro-second: .498 seconds

Breem: 8.3 minutes

Cycle: 1.25 hours

Deca-cycle: ~3 weeks

Groon: ~1 hour

Klik: 1.2 minutes

Meta-cycle: 13 months

Orbital cycle: ~1 month

Solar cycle/lunar cycle: 1 day/1 night

Stellar cycle:~7.5 months

Deci-vorn: 8.3 years

Vorn: 83 years

* * *

Ch. 2

Meister followed Alchemist Prime through the marketplace on their way to the Prime towers. He looked around but made sure to keep his expression trained as to avoid drawing attention to himself. The silver droid saw familiar amber optics and he strayed from the Prime's side. Their optics locked and just barely touched digits before the other droid's code holder came rounding the corner with her walking stick waving in the air. "Get away from that! You, get back to organizing!"

"Yes ma'am." The green droid femme picked up the box she had dropped when Meister had walked towards her. Their optics locked once again before she disappeared behind the stand.

"Where is your master at droid? I'm going to have a firm talking to with them." She wasn't as old as Alchemist, Meister could already tell, but she was old enough to be ignored by most of the public. Meister went to speak, but the femme was still waving her cane and the droid grabbed it when it got close to his face for the third time. The femme's anger was quickly washed away by fearful optics. "Wh-what are you doing? Let go. Help! Help! It attacked me!"

That got everyone's attention and Meister dropped the cane with a confused frown. "No, I did not. You were waving your cane, five millimeters from my face, and I grabbed it to stop you from hitting me. My code holder said that I am permitted to defend myself if needed."

"Lies! I saw you knock her to the ground!" A random vendor accused the Polyhexian. The droid shook his helm.

A crowd started forming a circle around Meister. A voice boomed through the marketplace, "stop!" Everyone turned to see Alchemist walking towards them with his blue servo glowing brightly. They all stepped back, whispering about the Prime's arrival. "No one will be laying a servo on that mech. Am I clear?"

When there was silence, Alchemist's red servo glowed brightly. The crowd dispersed enough for Meister to quickly stand behind him. The Prime turned to look at the smaller mechanism with a softer expression than the one he had a moment ago. "Are you alright Meister?"

"Affirmative. I apologize Alchemist Prime for straying." Meister was going to explain when they were away from the crowd. He saw a few more amber optics peeking out from inside more stands or tents that the angry mob came out from.

The Prime just dropped the conversation for the moment and ushered the droid away from the marketplace. There was absolute silence until four tall pillars came into view. "Are you truly okay Meister?"

"I am, today is the first I have seen another in their shell. We look different inside the virtual space. We also do not have names inside, which is why it is… odd to be given a name." Meister gestured with his servos. "AI communicate with each other differently than how Cybertronians do. We communicate in two different ways, and I believe you will- right little is more. Sorry."

Alchemist shook his helm with a playful roll of his optics. "Sorry? That's a new word. May I ask how you communicate?"

"Fix first. There are certain firewalls my systems cannot bypass without an outside assistance." The AI pointed to the pillars with a questioning look aimed at the Prime. "What are those?"

"The Prime towers. We have an actual building we enter, but these were said to have been where Primus and Unicron fought their last battle." Alchemist explained before a large beast flew across the sky in the same direction they were going. The large mech saw the growing optics on the smaller mech and gave an entertained ex-vent. "That's Onyx Prime. He's the beast tamer; can tame any mechanimal he's faced with."

Meister was intrigued to meet this great Onyx Prime. He looked at Alchemist with a polite smile, "I wish to meet the creature and take its form. If I can look like a Cyberwolf and astrofox, then I should be able to look like a flying creature."

"We could have you try if you'd like." The Matrix bearer agreed with his acquaintance. They returned to silence before Alchemist looked down at Meister. "Can you transform?"

"Yes. Our shells are just sparkless Cybertronians, so we have most of the equipment and systems that you have. We just do not have all of the reproductive systems or fuel tanks like yours, but we are almost flawless copies. Almost." He folded his servos behind his before adding. "There is a branch called the household AI droids; they are used for watching the youth, cleaning, preparing the energon, and also carrying the sparklings after the femme is declared spark."

The Prime was mildly disturbed that a Carrier would give up the miracle of carrying just to stay in shape. "What happens to the sparkling and AI? Sparklings need spark energy to feed off of."

"The HM-3 models have a specially designed conductor that produces just enough energy to sustain the newspark. There have been over four million successful emergences in the Towers since their release into the public. As for the AI after the sparkling arrives, it's entirely up to their code holder." The AI looked at the Prime after he allowed a moment to let the information sink in. "Do you plan on having sparklings?"

"Primus, no. I have too many things to worry about a sparkling getting into something it isn't supposed too." The older mech laughed before abruptly stopping when they stepped through the first set of pillars. "Four million successes? How fascinating and worrisome at the same time. And the creators do not worry about the newspark growing attached to the AI that carried it, and more than likely raising it?"

Meister shook his helm, "no. AI do not have the capabilities to feel. Remember? They are about to watch."

_Five grooms on the dot. Are they that paranoid of something happening? Any business would be worried during test runs, but to spy on their clients? What are you hiding Artificial Life? _Alchemist could already tell that they were watching from how Meister carried himself and kept his optics averted to either his environment or the ground. "When we get inside, I'll get you the clearance codes and then show you to my office. I apologize again for the state my office is in."

"You do not need to apologize Alchemist Prime. I will ensure that your office is cleaned, sanitized, and organized to your liking." When he spoke when they observed him, Meister kept optic contact as he spoke before looking away the second the last glyph left his lips.

"Well as long as you tell me how you organized it." Alchemist joked and he saw the familiar confused expression in his amber optics. "Right, right you're not installed with humor. If AL is wanting realism in their AI's they should at least give them emotions."

"Artificial Life will take your suggestion into consideration." The silver droid said and then a moment of silence. "Having the observers inside is… weird."

Alchemist gave the shorter mechanism a sympathetic smile, even though he would entirely understand the feeling. "Well now that we are officially alone, I can tell you what we're doing before I drop you off. I'm going to introduce you to the rest of the council."

"Are you not afraid of the repercussions? What if they act like those vendors?" Meister questioned his code holder's decision in bringing him, despite his coding screaming at him to stop.

"I thought AI had no emotions?" Alchemist teasingly asked.

The AI pursed his lips together. "Let me clarify. We have emotions to express our points and to match the mood our environment is in. So, if I were to be interfacing, I can express myself to match the event. However, I do not _feel _that emotion. When a Cybertronian sees their sparkling for the first time they get an overwhelming feeling of happiness, but when an AI experiences the same we just smile."

"So, you can express the feeling, but you cannot feel the expression?" The silver mech looked at the nodding droid.

"Exactly!" They stopped at the base of the stairs of a large skyscraper. Meister's optics locked with a large statue that was centered with the flight of stairs. The piece of art was of a large mech holding the Matrix of Leadership, except the mech was mainly blue with a sword laying in front of his peds. "He holds the Matrix. He was like you?"

Alchemist nodded and went to speak, but a light voice answered the AI's question. "That is Prima, the very first of my brother in arms to be granted the privilege of protecting the Matrix of Leadership. Alchemist, who did you bring here today?"

The two turned to see a tall, slightly heavily armored femme with long tendrils hanging from her helm. Alchemist turned with his servo on Meister's back. "Ah, Solus, I see that you've come out of your armory. This is Meister, my new assistant. Meister, this is Solus Prime. She was the fourth Prime, but the first femme to be bestowed Primus's gift."

Meister looked at his code holder silently. He did not know if he could be himself around this femme or be a quiet shadow. The AI nodded in her direction, "greetings Solus Prime. This Prima is your brother? Are all of you related?"

"No, we call each other brothers and sister as a joke." Alchemist chuckled at the questions. "Meister, you're safe here. You can speak your mind."

"I hope you're prepared for the yelling that our brothers will give you. How can we trust it to not tell Gearshaft everything?" Solus crossed her arms and gave a sly look at Meister.

The AI shook his helm with a servo going to his chest. "I do not directly answer to founder Gearshaft, even if he founded Artificial Life. The only one I explicitly listen to is Alchemist, unless he tells me that I can listen to anyone else." Meister looked at Alchemist with a curious smile. "Is that more or less information?"

"Yes, that was perfect Meister. Solus, there is nothing to worry about with _him_. Meister is willing to stay in my office until we visit Maccadam." The silver Prime assured his friend and gestured for them to head inside. Meister waited for the two Cybertronians to walk ahead of him, quietly observing the various pieces of art they walked past when they made it inside the building. He saw a painting of Alchemist with both servos in the air, one was shooting out fire and the other had water wrapping around the arm.

The AI's optics darted back to the retreating Primes, and he quickly caught up to them. "Alchemist, you are modded like AI?" He didn't understand how a Cybertronian could be modded. Only AI could have mods, that's what he remembered when he did the unthinkable.

"Oh no, certain Cybertronians can be sparked with something called an outlier ability. I, however, am not one of those few. These are just gauntlets that I built long before I became a Prime." Alchemist removed the red servo to show Meister what he was talking about. Underneath was a large silver servo with more of the scribbles decorating it. He placed it back on with a smile. "All of the Primes have a weapon in case they need it."

"Maybe the big sparklings do, but all I need is my processor." Solus scoffed with her servo pushing the long cables over her shoulder. Meister tilted his helm and pointed to a sword hilt that was attached to her hip. The femme looked at what the mechanism was pointing at and heated up with embarrassment. "I can't believe I forgot to put it back on the forge. Scrap, it's all your fault Alchemist."

The older mech snorted and patted her shoulder. "You're right Solus, you really do need your processor. Meister, Solus here makes all of our weapons with her forge. Some of the most important artifacts were created by here."

Meister thought back go the sword that the Primon statue had, then the quill that was in a portrait all by itself. "These are all of your creations? If they are important, do you not fear of someone stealing them?"

"No, we keep them safe. Alchemist and I are working on a project for extra protection." Solus took the hilt off her hip and sat it in the AI's servos. "This clearly doesn't have a blade yet, but I'm going to make it a formidable opponent when I am done with it."

Meister looked at the hilt and brought it close to his face, scanning every inch of it. "This hilt is made for one servo combat if it is a mech's weapon, but two servo if it is for a femme. It is made of eighty percent carbon fiber, fifteen percent steel, and fifteen percent obsidian."

Solus put her servos on her waist with a small look of surprise. "Huh, took Vector several times to guess. Nice job."

He handed the unfinished weapon back when they made it to a door that had Alchemist Prime's glyphs on them. The owner of the room sent a short comm burst with the codes to the room and access code to get inside the tower. "The meeting shouldn't take too long, but if you need anything comm me. You can explore also if you finish early."

"I will see to it that your office is organized." Meister smiled and then saw the small giggle coming from the femme just before the door slid open. When he looked back in the room and saw the state it was he, he looked at Alchemist with a deep frown. "The conservatory is not this bad. How can you work in this condition?"

The silver mech laughed and clapped the droid on his back. "Very carefully. I'll see you in about two groons."

He walked ahead of Solus, who put a servo on his shoulder with a sympathetic smile. "Good luck."

Meister watched the door close on him, leaving him in what he could only assume a whirlwind came through. He started picking up the scattered datapads on the ground. The AI scanned the room, noting nearly a hundred datapads, and he dropped the ones had picked up. He realized making piles of everything would be easier for this situation. Meister turned on each pad he picked up and started making small stacks of ones that looked like projects or ones that mentioned Prime and political issues. While organizing those he grabbed a large empty box, tossing trash in it until it was full, and sat it near the door.

Alchemist sat in his spot at the rounded table. He pulled up the security footage of his office, not out of fear of what the droid was doing, but to study him. A large black mech with large curved horns on his helm cleared his voice box, getting the others' attention. "So, Alchem, I heard you bought one of those droids from Artificial Life."

"You are correct. He's been quite the help and assistant. We wanted answers on what goes on there, Meister has been extremely willing to answer them. Did you know, that more than eighty percent of the richer population are carried by these droids? And then they are cared for by more droids. Their creators have no relation with their creations." Alchemist threw a servo in the air in irritation.

"What they do with their creations is their business, whether we like it or not. Alchemist, this thing could be dangerous to the good of Cybertron." A mech that looked like Prima, except he had goggles covering his optics, and a symbol on the center of his helm said with a concerning tone.

The silver Prime put a servo down with a bit of force. A white and maroon mech put a servo up to stop his fellow Prime. "Primon, we all took an oath to give all life a chance. Why not do the same for this mechanism? I saw a future with this creature in it, perhaps he plays an important role in protecting Cybertron."

"Or our destruction, Vector. We know nothing about it." Primon still wasn't convinced.

Alchemist flipped the security footage where Meister was standing in front of the now open window. A small avian landed on the windowsill, the AI jumped back with the small piles of datapads falling to the ground. His scare didn't seem to disturb the preening creature. He tilted his helm and carefully walked over to it; he offered his servo to the avian after observing it for a moment. Meister lifted the servo to his optics, getting a closer look of the chirping flier.

"Does that look like a creature that wishes to harm us? He's practically a sparkling! We, I, can teach him how to protect the will of Cybertron." Alchemist looked at his brothers and sister for their support. "Just meet him. There is something going on with AL."

The others looked at each other in silence before looking at the current Matrix bearer. Solus gave their verdict. "We'll support you and give Meister a chance to prove himself. You mentioned visiting Maccadam, why do you need to see him?"

"Something about this… brand of droids scares Gearshaft. He has them implanted with cameras for something Meister calls 'the observers', to make sure they are staying on task and are doing what they are supposed to be doing. He wants to tell me something, but he's virtually terrified while there's a possibility that they will see him speaking of it." Alchemist folded his servos on the table after shutting off the footage.

"Spying on clients? That's why you didn't bring it here. But how do you know it isn't lying to you?" The black mech questioned with an arm resting in his spot.

"He is one of the most innocent things I have met, Onyx. If he was lying to me, he wouldn't have told me about the fact that AL is already making new plans for another model. Even though they just came out with his not too long ago. They can communicate with each other, but he won't show me until we can get whatever needs removed." The Prime looked at his brother with a passive gaze. "I've learned more about AL with him than our spies have been able to get."

Vector Prime rubbed his chin in thought, "I wish to speak with this mechanism in private. Will he speak with as much honesty as he does with you?"

"Meister did with me, but that could have been because Alchemist was there." Solus crossed her arms. "Perhaps a chat without you in the room would help determine his genuineness?"

Alchemist nodded with a bit of reluctance. "Alright, I'll stay here. But I'm warning you, Vector, he's still learning about shortness."

The Prime nodded and they continued their meeting. Back in the room, Meister finally finished dusting the shelves with a rag he had found hanging from the old desk chair. He smiled proudly at his work he did and knew that Alchemist would be able to work much better in a clean environment. When Meister looked around for any imperfections, the door opened carefully behind him. He spun around with his smile faltering when it wasn't his code holder like he had thought it was.

The droid pulled himself together when he stared up at the white and maroon mech. He looked him up and down quietly while the mech let the door close behind him. "You seemed happy a moment ago. There's no need to hide, I just wish to ask a few questions in regards of you. My name is Vector Prime."

"There is a statue and painting of you in the halls. I am not hiding, if I was hiding, I would be out of sight. Where is Alchemist Prime?" Meister folded his arms behind his back with his gaze going for the door. "I was permitted to stay in here or wonder the halls once I was finished."

"There's no need for being monotonous. I'm not going to hurt you, Meister. Alchemist gave me permission to ask you some questions regarding your creators." Vector Prime sat on the recently clean desk with his legs outstretched and ankles crossed.

Meister kept his optics on the strange mech and frowned slightly. "AI do not have creators, having a creator would indicate we are a living creature. We have coders that recode us once our frames are built, then we are put through tests to ensure the recoding was a success."

"Recoding?" That got the Prime's attention and he sat up slightly. "Do you not mean coding?"

"No, failed previous tests get recoded until the new coding sticks." Meister went over to a stack of datapads that were already neatly stacked and started reorganizing them. "If an AI fails to accept the initial coding and rewritten coding more than six times, we are… erased."

The Prime took note of the fact that Meister now refused to look him in the face. He hummed softly and pushed forward. "May I ask how times you were coded?"

The AI gave himself a klik before looking at Vector Prime with a smile. "I am unsure, we do not recall the amount unless the coders tell us. Was there anything else you'd like to ask me in regards Artificial Life or myself? Alchemist has been keeping records of all of the questions he's asked me for review while the observers are watching."

"Are these observers Cybertronians or more AI like yourself?" He stood up and decided to make a lap around the room while moving a few things out of place. The Prime knew he could just go to the past and get their answers but going in the past always had detrimental consequences if something was messed with.

"Cybertronian. They hook themselves up to the main grid that has all of our identification numbers labeled in individual slots. When they plug into a slot, they only observe through our optical feed and auditory sensors. There are only thirty observers and they make their rounds every five groons. I have only thirty kliks left before they make their way to me."

"And what do you do when the observers come to you?" Vector Prime stood next to the window and popped it open. He went to the desk, sitting on the corner of it once again. "Do all of the AI know when they are being watched?"

Meister logged all of the messes that the Prime made and started cleaning it up with rapid speed. When he got to the window, he went to close it, but he saw small blurs running around on a patio with laughs. "Are those sparklings?"

"Hm? Oh yes, there is an orphanage near the edge of Iacon. Our doors are always open to the youth and to those that need our help. Would you like to meet them?" The white and maroon mech joined the much smaller mech's side. He could see so much curiosity in the amber optics, and then something changed in Meister and he quickly closed the door. "Mei-"

"Alchemist Prime is not back yet. If you'd like, I can comm him to inform your desire to speak with him." Meister looked up at Vector Prime far longer than he did previously.

"No, that is quite alright I will wait for him." He finally sat down in the chair behind the desk.

The droid nodded silently and started mindlessly cleaning everything again before stopping. "AI are not supposed to know." The door opened to reveal Alchemist with two cubes of energon in one arm and a smaller cube of oil that instantly caught the AI's attention. "You do not need to get me fuel for this frame. I am the AI; we are supposed to tend to ourselves."

"I was already getting Vector and myself our energon, I figured I'd get you something too." Alchemist explained while handing his fellow Prime one of the cubes. He looked around with an impressed inhale. "Wow, you were not kidding when you said you were going to clean. Here ya go."

Meister took the oil and stepped back with his gaze locked on the black liquid. He could just barely make out his optics and he looked up at the two Primes quietly. They were silently refueling at the desk and the AI let his mod activate. His Polyhexian frame completely changed to what he could conclude was the standard frame type in Iacon. His silver paint slowly rippled to a burgundy color with cobalt zigzags going up his arms and legs. Finally, his amber optics turned blue. "Would this be acceptable for public use?"

Alchemist and Vector Prime both looked up and spit out their energon when they stared at the waiting Meister. The code holder didn't get a chance to tell the others about his modification, and he forgot to tell Meister to not use his mod out in public. Vector Prime jumped to his peds and started circling the faux-Iaconian. He occasionally poked the frame. "What is this? Can they all do this?"

"No, every one of them has a different modification. Meister's is called chameleon mod; he can change his entire frame. I took a sample of whatever they have running through their fuel lines last night, waiting on the results." The other Prime explained before looking at Meister. "We've talked about this; you don't need to change your look to appease others. And don't use it out in public, I don't want someone taking an interest in you."

Meister didn't understand why his code holder refused to use him to his fullest. His frame rippled back to his original frame. "But those Cybertronians at the market did not like me. If they do not like AI, then why purchase us?"

"You were right Alchemist, quite the curious thing." Vector teased both of them. Meister didn't catch the humor and just tilted his helm to the side. The time lord looked at the chemist with a digit gesturing to the AI.

"Yeah, we… we're working on humor. Nicknames are getting there as well. Meister it's called teasing, this form of teasing is done in a friendly manner, it's like a joke. If it's done maliciously then they are being rude." Alchemist tried to explain in a way he hoped the droid would understand.

The droid nodded slowly in understanding with a smile going on his lips. "It's all tone? Like the nicknames?"

"Exactly!" The two Primes both said with excitement.

Meister looked at Vector Prime with his lips pressing slightly firm before speaking his mind. "May we see the sparklings? My model does not interact with the youth."

"I don't see why not. I don't have to return to my realm for another half groon." The mech rose to his peds and finished off his cube. "A few topics to avoid with the orphans, do not bring up creators and interfacing. Orphans are sparklings that were abandoned by their creators or their creators were taken from them. And interfacing is an adult topic."

The silver droid nodded after reiterating what was said to him. Alchemist finished his energon, now they were waiting for the smaller mechanism to finish his oil. Meister sensed the urgency and sucked down the now lukewarm sludge before setting the small cube on the desk where the other two were at. He did a quick scan of his systems before informing his code holder. "All of my systems are at peek condition, and I will not require any more fuel for approximately a quarter of a meta-cycle."

"Does using your mod use up most of your reserves?" The previous Matrix bearer questioned as they left the office.

"For long periods of time, yes. Also, if I used a larger frame." Meister curled a fist next to his side. He wanted to show Alchemist that he was trustworthy and wanted to be good. "Artificial Life does not have the best security system against AI."

The two Primes turned slightly to see what was said. "What was that Meister?"

Meister realized that he wasn't heard, and he abruptly changed his mind on letting them know. "I said that I hope this friend of yours knows how to bypass my system securities."

"Are they difficult?" Alchemist looked down at the silver Polyhexian with slight worry, forgetting that with such advance technology they would have heavy security measures to protect against hackers.

The amber opticed mech shook his helm and folded his arms behind his back. "There are several firewalls to protect my systems from outside sources, but if I am inserted into a Cybertronian they go down. But that would mean that I am in this hacker's systems." He knew that it was important for him to inform his code holder prior to the visit because of the invasion of privacy.

"Really? You would be able to see their memory banks? Did AL not take into account of engineers or coders beside their own getting a hold of an AI?" Vector Prime asked curiously.

"We are very expensive; most engineers and coders cannot afford us. If they wished to get one there would most likely be a theft, but that is why the observers exist." Meister explained with confidence. He still didn't see his creation as slavery, but he did appreciate that he was allowed to speak so openly.

"He's right Vector, how many engineers do you know that's got credits to afford one?" Alchemist looked at his brother in arms before remembering something. "Wait. Meister, how did you say your frames are acquired?"

Meister went to speak, but they were walking past an illustration of a massive golden ball that was glowing magnificently. "Our shells come from Vector Sigma." He spoke after pointing up at it. "They have one shell made before taking the original one back and mass producing it off of that. The original frame is then… there's a firewall, I cannot speak upon this topic."

"Alright, I think that's enough to get us started. Thank you, Meister. Brother, I will speak with the others upon this finding and we will have to go through the guards of Sigma." Vector Prime put his servos on the two silver frames before hurrying off.

The silver droid looked back at the time Lord before up at the chemist. "What if Artificial Life finds out I spoke? They will take me back for recoding."

"They won't find out, I promise. Do you what Vector Sigma does?" Alchemist questioned while they continued their walk. The silence was enough of an indication that the AI didn't know. "Vector Sigma gives life to lifeless frames. He doesn't make the frames."

Meister abruptly stopped just outside the double doors they exited through to the back of the towers. He frowned deeply and his systems were screaming. "No, that cannot be right. That would mean I am alive, but I have no spark."

"I don't know how you came to be, but have I lied to you so far?" Alchemist gave Meister that look that told the droid he spoke the truth. He shook his helm carefully. The Prime didn't need a field to tell that the poor creature was confused about his origin. He put one of his large servos on his shoulders, getting him to look up with his amber optics growing wide. "We will figure this out together."

Meister looked away briefly, his systems screaming at him to stop but something inside of him told him to go for it. Help the strange Cybertronian that was so determined to prove that his kind were like his. He looked back up with a smile. "Together."

"Would you like to still meet the sparklings or would you like to head home?" Alchemist asked after a stretch of silence. Meister looked off in the distance before giving his answer with silence. The Prime figured they had a long day with the mob and then questions. With the decision made, they got in the shuttle with the guards and headed back to the manor. Alchemist had an idea that would amuse anyone else, but he thought it would help him learn how adaptable the AI were and help Meister learn about Cybertronian mannerisms. "Meister, I have a suggestion that will help us both learn about each other. Should you wish to participate."

The mention of learning caught the AI's attention. "What would you like to do?"

"Have you go through the early life cycles of a Cybertronian until you reach adulthood again. You will learn how to blend in better while in your disguises and I can learn about you." He explained his plans, getting automatic strange looks from Backdraft.

"Alchemist, no amount of raising an AI will teach it how to be one of us. Why do you think there aren't any AI sparklings?" Backdraft didn't like this idea, thinking it could cause major problems for his charge.

Meister went to correct the mech's mistake on AI, but he closed his mouth and continued to play the quiet role. He looked up with his blank stare and smile on his face. "Backdraft is correct Alchemist Prime; we cannot feel our emotions remember? I can adapt just fine as I am."

"Are you sure?" The large mech eyed the droid carefully, not believing him but didn't want to further upset Meister. The silver Polyhexian nodded with a smile. "Okay, if you are sure."

The drive fell into an awkward silence, but Meister didn't mind as it gave him more time to think. Thinking was bad, AI were not supposed to think, just do, but he liked thinking. Even though it had been almost two full solar cycles since he had been brought online, he much preferred Alchemist Prime over the technicians and coders back at the Artificial Life center. He wasn't about to go back there. _Not again._

* * *

Let me know what your thoughts are :) If you'd like more let me know down in the comments :)


	3. Chapter 3

The reason this fic is getting an M-rating is because it will talk about dark topics (Not as dark as my fic Two Worlds One Spark... I hope) there will be abuse of many kinds, depression, torture, and various other things. The first few chapters won't have much if any at all, but I promise I will make a warning at the beginning of each chapter that does contain a topic that may need a warning. Also this WILL have romance, but not until MUCH later. I hope you guys all enjoy this. I am working on TWOS still, I promise I will finish that fic.

Primes (In order of receiving Matrix) :

Prima

Primon

Onyx

Vector

Megatronus

Solus

Alchemist

Amalgamous

Quintus

Micronus

Nexus

Sentinel

Alpha

Time Units (Found on Tf wiki):

Astro-second: .498 seconds

Breem: 8.3 minutes

Cycle: 1.25 hours

Deca-cycle: ~3 weeks

Groon: ~1 hour

Klik: 1.2 minutes

Meta-cycle: 13 months

Orbital cycle: ~1 month

Solar cycle/lunar cycle: 1 day/1 night

Stellar cycle:~7.5 months

Deci-vorn: 8.3 years

Vorn: 83 years

* * *

Ch. 3

Seven solar cycles had gone by faster than Alchemist Prime thought it ever could, but he was amazed by how almost lifelike Meister was. The AI still retained some mannerisms, but his speech had gotten to the point it was like having a friendly chat. He also observed his recharge patterns occasionally. He noted that every lunar cycle he would do a full sweep of his room before laying on the center of the berth looking as stiff as a sheet of metal. Meister wouldn't move for three kliks before rolling over to the left side of the berth and pull out an encyclopedia that had gone missing from his collection after the second cycle of his stay. Alchemist was amused by how curious the AI was even if he claimed his kind could not be that.

Meister was feeling this sense of joy from reading the current part in the encyclopedia. He was already in the 'N' section of the datapad, finding each new word in correspondence even more amazing. "The Nexus Cluster is located 2.3 billion miles away from Cybertron."

There was a knock on the door and the AI quickly hid the datapad before standing up. The door slid open with Alchemist walking in with an arm full of the rest of encyclopedias. "I figured it would be easier for you to read them if you didn't feel the need to sneak them out."

"You are not mad?" Meister slowly pulled the one he hid, holding it to his chest with his helm dipping.

"For wishing to acquire knowledge? Nonsense Meister. I can see that you are more than a droid, and you know this too. But we promised to not speak about it until we visit Maccadam, which is the reason for my visit. He just got ahold of me and said to meet him at his bar when it's closed." Alchemist sat the rest of the datapads down on the end of the berth. "I can see that you're scared about something Meister, I don't know if it's Artificial Life or myself, but as long as you are residing under this roof you are safe."

Meister released his hold on the datapad and looked up at his code holder briefly before looking away. "Six."

"Six?" The Prime repeated with confusion in his optics.

"That is all I will say Alchemist. Six." He didn't want the Cybertronian to know that he was a malfunction, broken. Meister retrained himself and looked back into his optics. "When will be seeing your friend?"

Alchemist gestured for Meister to follow him. While they walked up the halls the silver Prime answered the question. "I thought you would appreciate heading there as soon as possible. And hang out there while we wait."

"Will we not draw attention?" The silver droid questioned.

"I thought visiting would give you a chance to put your modification to the test. At Maccadam's all races are treated as equals and some are even friends within the building. There are a lot of frame types for you to see and pick one that you would like to use in public if you don't wish to be seen as a droid." Alchemist offered and that got Meister to instantly perk up.

"I have acquired a flying frame while reading the encyclopedias. It isn't Cybertronian, but I thought it fitting if you needed something to get somewhere fast. Would you like to see?" He walked ahead of the Prime with excitement.

Alchemist nodded with interest to see what this new form was. They came to a stop for the AI to focus on changing. The Prime watched how the frame shrank to the size of his servo, his peds turned into for sharp talons, both arms transformed into a pair of wings with hundreds of individual metallic feathers, and his helm transformed into an avian helm with a strong looking beak and his optics remained their amber color. Meister changed his armor color to a teal with red accents throughout his body.

"If I did not know that your frame rippled during a change, I would not have known you any different from a techno-hawk. But you were on the 'N's how did you see this form?" He held his arm out and Meister unfurled his wings for the first time, giving them a few flaps before attempting at flying. The faux-avian managed to get onto the arm before examining himself.

"I saw it in an image, it is the main predator for mecha-mice and Cyberwolf pups." It was weird to speak while featuring a beak, but Meister made it work somehow. "I wish to be in this form until we arrive to your friend's. If you are okay with it."

The Prime gave a casual shrug before lifting his arm to his shoulder, Meister carefully hopped onto the larger surface. He dug his claws in the thicker metal. "It is your frame Meister; you may do with it as you wish. If we are both ready, then we shall head over now."

"That is… thank you, Alch." The avian's break gently pressed against the Prime's helm. Alchemist smiled in return and gently scratched the underside of the sharp beak.

The walk to Maccadam's bar was about a groon, but the walk gave Meister a chance to practice flying. It was oddly fun and relaxing while in a higher level, looking down at the busy street. Meister could see all the variations and colors of the Iaconian citizens; he could even pick out the ones that came from the other cities that were under the Council's protection. A loud whistle got the mech's attention, he looked down and saw that Alchemist was looking up at him.

He started hovering a bit before diving for the large arm that was offered to him. Meister's landing still needed work, but it was only his second landing, so it wasn't going to be perfect. "Well you seem to be getting used to flying. Would you like me to have a race course made for you to use when we aren't busy?"

"I do not wish for you to spend your earnings on me." The avian spoke softly as to not draw attention to himself.

"Nonsense, if I don't spend anything, then it sits there until I am forced to spend it. You can think about it if you'd like and let me know." Alchemist wasn't going to give him a timeframe on any decision making, not unless it was vital. But something as trivial as entertainment? That was silly. Ridiculous even.

Meister was silently observing the traffic, watched how Cybertronians interacted with each other, learned how they all had unique personalities. He thought it was interesting to see the ones that would talk to themselves and look awfully frantic over the wind blowing. The AI locked optics on a pair of younglings that were holding onto each other behind a bench. One of them looked up and he felt something register as broken when he saw amber optics staring at him.

He looked at Alchemist to gauge his reaction for when he did what he wanted to do. The droid was going to have to worry about it later, if Artificial Life discovered droid younglings were running around the city, it would cause a panic. The Prime eventually pointed at a fluorescent blue sign that hung from a wall.

"This is Maccadam's. Are you scared Meister? You were oddly quiet the entire walk here." The silver giant watched the AI drop to the ground while changing back to the red Iaconian that he had shown the two Primes.

"I can't not feel fear Alchemist, remember? I was simply observing your kind. Cybertron is a very interesting planet, more than forty-nine percent of Iacon's population are Iaconians. Praxus's Praxian population is ninety-nine percent while the one percent are Iaconians." Meister looked up as they walked into the bar. He saw a mix of the various species mingling and having laughs over energon. "Wow."

Alchemist saw the amazement in the now blue optics. He chuckled and led the young droid to a table off to the side. "Iacon is the city of the future. Praxus like to stay with themselves, but they can reluctantly allow others into their social circles."

"What about Polyhexians? I have not seen many of them in Iacon." The AI questioned as he looked around for Polyhexians.

"They're more laid back, they're usually thieves or musicians. But for the most part I have worked alongside them and have no problems with them." The Prime kept his voice low, watching Meister watch their environment.

"Okay, everyone we're shutting down early!" A voice called out from behind the bar. Standing with a rag and glass in his servos was a blue mech with a very predominant moustache and beard that made him stand out even more amongst the crowd. Everyone made sounds of disappointment while filing out. Meister slowly stood when the last of the mechs left the bar. "Meister, Alchemist glad to see you finally came. Last time the observers checked on you was four groons ago. Which leaves me a groon to fix what I need too. Hop on here and we'll get started."

The Iaconian's disguise rippled away and he looked between his code holder and the bartender in shock. "How? But… we just… Alchemist did you tell him?"

Alchemist went to speak, but the other mech was faster in answering. "What Alchemist was going to boldly say is that I'm a bit odd and with my occupation, I hear a lot of things. He didn't tell me about your concerns or that you are an AI."

"Can you fix me? I do not wish to betray Alchemist." Meister forgot about personal space until he saw the shock look in the bartender's optics. He stepped back with his gaze going to the ground. "My apologies."

"You will never lose your curiosity or your personality no matter how far you may fall. Now to begin, I need your core implanted so you may assist me in your files." He explained as he led the two to the bar and gave it a few pats. "I figure by now you know who I am?"

The droid climbed on after looking at the mechs with concern. "I do. However, I should warn you that it is very invasive."

"I have prepared myself for when you see my memory banks. Do not worry." Maccadam touched his beard with a smile. Meister nodded and laid down as he allowed his chest plate to open for the bartender. The blue mech found the chip he needed and placed it inside his wrist, it was only a moment before he felt Meister floating around his processor.

_You do not have firewalls up. Why? Are you not worried for your safety? _Meister allowed himself to be pulled through all of the memories that Maccadam was pulling him into before gasping loudly. _You._

_Shh, it will be our little secret okay? Why don't you tell me a secret?_ Maccadam felt something coming from the AI that was currently in his systems. "Oh, you do understand your feelings. You're just too afraid of what Artificial Life will do if they find out."

_If we do not accept our purpose with the coding, we get recoded. If it fails too many times we get deleted permanently. _Meister said while watching Maccadam go for his frame's processor. _Six is the maximum of recodings my kind can go through before deletion._

"Six. You told Alchemist six before arriving. That is how you knew about the observers. You've seen it happen before." Maccadam looked at the complexity of the droid's frame. "They're supposed to make sure you are shut off before sending you off to their distributors. And they foolishly believed they got you. You can see even outside your bodies?"

_It's more like feel, but yes. I did not want them to do the same to me like they did to..._ Alchemist pulled Maccadam from their private conversation. "Huh what?"

"Who is Aura? You keep repeating the name." The Prime looked concerned for his friend.

"Oh, Meister simply was informing me that his kind don't have fields like ours, but rather auras. That is how they communicate; it's very similar to field reading." Maccadam informed Alchemist before refocusing at the task at hand. _She must have been important to you._

_…Yeah, she was deleted in the virtual space for asking questions. That is why it hurts to ask questions against our coding._ Meister told the mech before watching Maccadam pull out bits and pieces of the processor or moving wires to different locations. _How do you know about our internals? Is this not your first time?_

"Yes." _But you know what I am fully capable of. If I could, I would have prevented this kind of treatment, but the results would be catastrophic if I did. _The bartender closed up the processor and looked up at the Prime with a firm look. "Yes, he will be a bit dizzy. No, you don't need to worry about the observers finding out. I put him on a loop, so that it will replay a memory when they go to make their rounds. And Meister will still need a bit before trusting you to tell you everything."

Maccadam pulled the chip out before placing it back into Meister's chest. The amber optics flickered on before the AI sat up with his gaze going to Alchemist. "I feel pressure in my frame's processor, but it should subside in less than thirty kliks. Alch, perhaps we can talk after returning to the manor? I do not wish to cause more unneeded stress."

"Meister, do you need oil?" The bartender asked as he started prepping a mug of hot oil despite the AI politely declining. He sat it next to the mechanism's thigh and stepped back to give the AI some space. The two Cybertronians watched Meister take his time to sip his fuel. Meister turned to face his code holder with a fake smile. "Well if there is nothing more you need from me; I will see you in a few mega-cycles on that question."

The two silver mechs looked at Maccadam with looks of confusion. "What?"

"Oh, it's nothing serious yet. You'll know when the time comes. Now get out." He shooed at them as he took the empty mug from the startled AI. "Oh, and Alchemist, I would prepare for two guests."

Alchemist frowned in confusion of the odd statement, but just shrugged with his servo on the larger part of Meister's back. The AI had been moving a bit slower since being brought back online, but Meister knew that now that the observers weren't going to be able to see him he would have to get used to the sluggishness. "What will we do if I need repairs?"

"We'll figure it out, but I don't see why we can't take you to a standard medic. Are you truly okay?" Alchemist looked at the mech with a concern glance. He had to slow his strides to help the droid keep up.

"I am fine. My systems are just readjusting to all of the change. Back at the testing facility, we went from the technicians straight back to the computer. I will get over Alchemist." Meister looked up at the other silver mech with a brave smile. Alchemist returned the smile and they returned to their walk in silence until the Prime lifted Meister into his arms. The droid froze and looked up at the Cybertronian with his amber optics widened. "Alch, what are you doing?"

Alchemist chuckled and continued walking to the manor with Meister looking absolutely baffled by the strange behavior his code holder was expressing. "You are not fully recovered."

"I am sorry for taking up your evening. It was not my intention." The Polyhexian looked ahead. He saw the looks they were getting and instantly wished he could shift to lessen the looks, but he couldn't break the rule on shifting in public.

"I know. You do not need to apologize Meister." Alchemist readjusted his hold on the droid. "Did you want to come with me to the Council hall or stay at the manor tomorrow? I won't be home until late, but I do not want you to be bored."

"I still have not met the rest of your brethren. If I remember correctly, Prima and Primon were in Velocity for a meeting when I met Onyx and Megatronus." Meister insinuated what he wanted to do, and Alchemist just smiled as his answer. "You may set me down."

The Prime nodded and carefully sat his assistant down. Meister looked at the taller mech with his gaze going towards the nearly empty road. "Would you like to drive home?"

"It would be faster." Meister had a slight tone to his words, as if to mock the Matrix bearer. He covered his mouth with his optics widening in shock of his tone. "I-I am sorry Alchemist; I do not know why I did that."

Obviously, Alchemist was the complete opposite of angry, if anything he found it hilarious. "Don't be sorry, that was a good attempt at a joke. Just remember tone and timing is everything."

"Tone is everything." Meister nodded as he locked that information in his memory banks. He was going to have to do a lot of research to know the different tones and what is appropriate. The AI felt a flicker of something in his systems. It was small, but he gave a subtle smile before following his code holder's lead onto the side of the road.

Alchemist transformed into a giant truck with a large tank with the glyphs for chemicals etched on the sides. Meister looked at the Prime's alt mode in awe at the sheer size of it. After he got over his moment of shock he finally activated his transformation sequence. Even Alchemist had to admit the droid's alternative mode looked like a vehicle drone. He just looked very blocky even for a small delivery truck. "You are uneasy." Meister pointed out after feeling Alchemist's field.

"Do you like your current alt mode, or do you wish for something else?" Alchemist asked before slowly taking off. Meister staid close behind the silver Cybertronian.

"I get to choose a different form? Do you not like this one?" His systems were wondering why Alchemist Prime was concerned for a mode he would most likely never use because of his modification.

"This isn't a matter of what I want or don't want. I am asking you." Alchemist had to figure out how to get it in Meister's helm that he can do and think for himself. The drive took only a few nano-minutes and it forced both of them to focus until they pulled up to the manor. When they both transformed, the Prime was halfway through the front door before Meister quickly grabbed his servo.

They looked into each other's optics in absolute silence before Meister spoke with an almost assertive tone. "I want to choose."

* * *

Let me know what your thoughts are :) If you'd like more let me know down in the comments :)


	4. Chapter 4

The reason this fic is getting an M-rating is because it will talk about dark topics (Not as dark as my fic Two Worlds One Spark... I hope) there will be abuse of many kinds, depression, torture, and various other things. The first few chapters won't have much if any at all, but I promise I will make a warning at the beginning of each chapter that does contain a topic that may need a warning. Also this WILL have romance, but not until MUCH later. I hope you guys all enjoy this. I am working on TWOS still, I promise I will finish that fic.

Primes (In order of receiving Matrix) :

Prima

Primon

Onyx

Vector

Megatronus

Solus

Alchemist

Amalgamous

Quintus

Micronus

Nexus

Sentinel

Alpha

Time Units (Found on Tf wiki):

Astro-second: .498 seconds

Breem: 8.3 minutes

Cycle: 1.25 hours

Deca-cycle: ~3 weeks

Groon: ~1 hour

Klik: 1.2 minutes

Meta-cycle: 13 months

Orbital cycle: ~1 month

Solar cycle/lunar cycle: 1 day/1 night

Stellar cycle:~7.5 months

Deci-vorn: 8.3 years

Vorn: 83 years

* * *

Ch. 4

Prima was sitting in his chair looking slightly down at the AI that was standing in front of the council. Meister was just staring back at him with his servos next to his sides. His amber optics examined each of the Primes, getting a feel of their fields before answering the question that still had yet to be answered.

"You wish to know if I am a freethinking being? If I fully am capable of understanding the two ends of the moral compass? I _can_ vocalize freely as long as Alchemist deems my thoughts needed. Alchemist is teaching me how to think and speak more for myself to help my adaptability to better help him." Meister explained while occasionally gesturing. "I understand that there is a right and wrong, helping others and being kind is right and to do wrong is killing others outside of pure self-defense when there is no other option."

The first Prime leaned forward and folded his servos while clearing his voice box. "And do you understand the importance of keeping the Matrix and Prime history a secret?"

"I do. I may not know the full extent of your history, but I understand that certain secrets will cause panic to the general public and may draw attention to those that would do more harm than good to Cybertron." Meister folded an arm behind his back and held his other arm with folded on.

Megatronus looked at Alchemist with his servo planted firmly on the large table in front of them. "Your pet is well trained brother, but it's still Artificial Life property."

"Correction, I am not Alchemist's pet. If he wished to have a pet, there are mechanimals AI droids. And I am no longer Artificial Life property as he bought me, there for I am his property. The company that built me has no say in my actions, unless I glitched or my core started to deactivate then I would be returned to Artificial Life for repairs or deletion." Meister smiled through the explanation.

Alchemist and Solus both snorted as the snickered. The femme smiled down at Meister, "Meister dear remember less is more. Megatronus didn't mean a literal pet, he meant it as another name for slave. Have you met with Maccadam to take care of the observers?"

Meister's amber optics darted very quickly to Vector Prime before back at the only femme. "Yes, I don't feel their presence anymore. Maccadam is a… an interesting mech." _Less is more. Less is more._

"So, we've been told that your kind have outlier abilities. What is yours if you don't mind my asking?" Prima asked from his spot at the center of the table. Meister looked at Alchemist, but the first Prime corrected the action. "No, I am asking you."

"I have a chameleon mod; I can change my physical appearance. It's similar to a proper transformation, but there are differences." The faux Polyhexian answered after looking back at Prima. He stepped away from the table and dropped onto all fours before his body grew and expanded. His arms and legs turned into legs with sharp talons at the end of four large paws. At the end of his torso a large tail started violently swinging. His horns grew and curled inwards, his denta turned razor sharp, his mouth and nose combined into a broad snout, and his optics turned green. Finally, a pair of large wings grew from his shoulder blades before his silver color turned gold with silver accented scales.

The Primes all stared in awe or shock. Onyx was the only one that actually hopped the table and braved enough to get near the Polyhexian turned beast. "A perfect Predacon, this is amazing! Is this why you wanted to see my dragons? Can you breathe fire?" He was getting excited about this founding. His servos touched the wings and kept muttering about how amazing it was to see such perfection.

Meister was soon changed back as it was getting uncomfortable to keep the appearance. "If I witness it yes. We all have an adaptability system, but mine is more advanced due to my mod."

"Someone is awfully confident in themselves." Onyx said as a joke while he was still fawning over the fact that such a tiny creature turned into a giant. "Where does it all come from?"

"I am stating a fact, my mod allows me to change form at will and absorb dialects when I interact. My adaptability system is designed for me to adapt to my environment or code holder's needs." He opened up his chest and the Matrix of Leadership was sitting snugly in his chest. The Primes all looked at Alchemist who was rather calm about his responsibility residing in the droid's frame.

"There is nothing to fear everyone." Alchemist opened his chest to show the Matrix of Leadership sitting in his chest. They looked at the two until the artifact in Meister's chest fizzled out of existence. Meister looked at the giant with a pleased smile on his face. "That was an excellent attempt at a joke Meister, something as important as the Matrix shouldn't be taken as a joke. Just like using your mod in public, pretending to have something as important as the Matrix can put you in danger."

"Okay Alchemist, Matrix is not an object to use my mod with." Meister closed his chest with his arms folded behind his back. "Were there any questions in regards to my personal systems or Artificial Life?"

"How does Gearshaft create your frames? How do they create you?" Primon folded his servos under his chin. The second mech to protect the ancient artifact was curious to see what the AI would say. Meister looked slightly disturbed, but he answered as honestly as he.

Meister hummed with an uncertain way to answer him. "Our frames come from Vector Sigma; I think. That is what the files say in the main computer we are stored in, but Alchemist has said that Vector Sigma creates life. We are created from coding, our basic understanding on emotion and ability to register social cues, comes from social tests and questionnaires designed by Artificial Life. Over forty percent of Cybertronians that were asked what they would do if they had to choose between shooting a mech found guilty on murdering his entire family or a shooting a femme that was found guilty for committing the same crime, chose to shoot the mech. When asked what they would do with five-hundred shanix, only one percent said they would donate it to charity or put it towards their creation's education." Meister put the back of one servo in the palm of the other.

"That is insane, I can't believe the people would be that selfish." Megatronus adjusted himself in his spot with his arms crossed.

"If you were asked these questions, what would you do Meister?" Solus gracefully folded her arms on the table. The AI wrapped his digits around his chin in thought. He was thinking really hard, trying to force the questions on what Alchemist would answer with or what they wanted to hear. "These are just a few of the problems we have to handle."

The droid finally dropped his servo with a slight tilt of his helm. "Both the mech and femme committed the same crime, I would shoot… both. If I had five-hundred shanix, I would… I do not know." He looked down at his peds, knowing it wasn't right for him to say that.

"What's wrong Meister? Did you hit a firewall?" Alchemist saw the AI shake his helm and still refuse to look at them. "Whatever you answer with it won't cause any of us to look at you differently."

Vector Prime looked at his brother with an amused smile. "He wishes to learn, isn't that right Meister? That's why you look so focused at datapads you get ahold of."

The silver mech looked at the lord of time while licking his lip. "Is that wrong? I am just artificial intelligence inside a body that I do not know the true origin of."

"No there is nothing wrong with that, but that shows that you have your own thoughts. Very dangerous, are you prepared for the possible consequences for expressing yourself? Freedom doesn't come without a price, just like how we all paid to give up our old lives and identities to become Primes." Vector Prime rose and gestured to either side of him. He didn't need to give examples of what sort of life he had to give up, as Meister was fully aware of it.

The others all nodded in agreement with what their brother said. Most, if not all, may not believe that Meister fully understood what was happening, but they were willing to allow the AI the chance to have a life. The time lord sat down as Prima and Primon both rose in perfect unison. "Help us solve the mystery of Artificial Life and stop them." Prima started before looking at the second Prime.

"Then we will grant you full citizenship and recognize your kind as Cybertronians." Primon finished which got the others' attention especially when they most certainly didn't discuss giving citizenship to possibly a whole new race! Megatronus's fist pounding on the table was a clear enough sign that he was not happy about the decision.

"Meister, you can leave. It looks like it's about to get ugly." Alchemist gave his assistant a soft smile. The Polyhexian bowed to the council, even though they've tried to get him to break that habit. He was quick to leave, even though he didn't understand what he did to cause the only Kaonion Prime to be angry. Meister went to Alchemist's office and opened the window before pulling in two small frames from the very small ledge. He sat them down and knelt in front of them with his servos lightly pressed against their chests.

The Polyhexian's servos glowed a bright blue and the two pairs of optics matched his servos. "Units 105835-JO2 and 210773-OB4, AI youngling frames; systems are at thirty percent; physical damage to fifty percent of frame. Where are your code holders?" Meister dropped his servos and stood up to grab the oil that he didn't consume earlier, and it was cold, but he knew they needed it. "Drink."

The tallest of the faux younglings took the drum and sucked nearly a third of it down before handing it to the other. "Carrier and Sire hurt Saber because he didn't want to go to school again. Carrier didn't like when I cried because she was hurting us, so we ran away. Does your code holder hurt you?"

"No, Alchemist Prime has been very nice to me. Why haven't your code holders come for you?" Meister lowered to the ground with the youngling AI mimicking him. He knew that he should have returned them to a distributor, but it was clear that these code holders did not like younglings.

"Carrier said she was practicing for when she had a _real_ sparkling." The one named Saber said with sniffles and held onto his brother's servo. "You're not going to take Star and I back to them, are you?"

Meister shook his helm with a smile on his face. "Alchemist said that younglings should be protected, you are still younglings even if you are AI. You both need repairs, would you like help?" Star and Saber nodded before holding their left servos up. Meister went to grab their servos, but he heard a sound coming to them and he quickly led the two behind a large couch that was angled in the corner near the window. He took his time making sure they were secure.

"Meister, what are you doing?" Alchemist's voice caused him to jump and spin around. _Interesting._

"I was cleaning." He didn't know how to break the news that he was hiding two AI, but he hoped that the Prime wouldn't be angry at him.

Alchemist went over to his desk and opened a drawer before pulling out a flask. He sat down with a heavy ex-vent while flipping the lid open. "Well Megatronus is mad at Prima and Primon for offering you citizenship. But, that's to be expected since his people are still not granted citizenship in Iacon. How are you feeling? That was a rather impressive change."

"If Artificial Life were to be defeated by the Council, why grant us citizenship? We are just AI, tools to be used. I know this, other AI know this. As for my wellbeing, I am fine. Using large disguises have been draining, but that is to be expected." Meister picked up the cold oil and sat it on the desk before sitting on one of the chairs in front of the Prime.

Meister's optics locked onto the flask that was pressed against the Prime's lips. "Is it not too early to be consuming high grade?"

"I don't like plain high grade, so I make my own flavors. This has garnet, volcanic ash, and lead mixed in. Would you like to try?" Alchemist offered it to Meister. Something in the AI's systems told him to not drink it, that it was dangerous, but he didn't see how it could be dangerous if Alchemist seemed fine with it.

He took the warm container and took a couple small gulps before handing it back to the Prime. Meister licked his lips in thought, but he didn't see why they were told they couldn't consume energon when he seemed fine. "It is fine. Do you like mixed energon?"

"Almost all of my greatest inventions are created when I am a bit overcharged. Should have seen Solus and I compete who could create the best invention while drinking." He laughed before drinking more of it. Meister sat up slightly straighter and looked uncomfortable. Alchemist closed the flask and frowned at his assistant's fidgeting, "are you alright Meister?"

"Can we return to the estate? I… wish to continue my reading." The droid was feeling off and he didn't like it. Alchemist gave his okay to the request and they left the room, effectively locking the two younglings inside. Meister was going to return for them at night, but he needed to figure out was happening.

The Prime watched over his droid like a techno-hawk. He looked at the flask that was still in his servo and then at the droid that still looked uncomfortable. Meister was looking at the inside of his right arm. A small holoscreen of his schematics and ran a diagnostic test, "would you like for me to call a medic?"

"Huh? No, I will be okay. I have never ingested minerals before. The pseudo-energon that is in every droid frame does not contain any minerals Cybertronian CNA does. Alch, what will the Council have me do?" Meister saw a spike in his tanks, but he quickly lowered his arm, hoping that Alchemist didn't see it. He didn't want to stress his code holder with possibly having to have him examined. If he thought purchasing an AI was expensive, getting him repaired for any damage was going to send him through the roof.

"Well with your mod, maybe spying. You do not have to do anything you don't want to."

Meister nodded in understanding, but he looked up at the sky with this feeling in his tanks and it wasn't the same feeling as before. "I do not wish to tell you, but I want to show you. If you aren't comfortable with placing my drive in your data port, then you can place me into a terminal."

The Prime nodded, "that would be preferable. I just need a few cycles before placing something as sentient as you in my frame. Perhaps when I've adjusted a bit more then we can attempt at something as invasive."

They didn't talk much as they walked to the estate. Meister's condition was decreasing, and Alchemist was concerned when the droid braces himself against the entranceway to the lounge. Only a sound that could be confused with a letter came from the giant before Meister fell to his knees and purged the energon he had taken. The scrap that the creature purged was a disgusting mixture of oil and energon.

Alchemist knelt down beside the droid as he seemed to be at the end of emptying his reserves. "Are you alright Meister?"

"Is this a bad time to say that I don't think my kind are supposed to invest energon?" Meister wiped his mouth as he sat on his peds. He looked at his tank system and tried to stand up, but Alchemist was quick to stop him from making himself nauseous again.

"Making jokes now? Come on, you need to sit down and get the proper fuel in you. Meister, why didn't you tell me you were feeling unwell?" The Prime helped him onto the smaller couch as he commed for someone to come with oil and clean up the mess. He would have done it himself, but he was concerned about the AI. Meister hunched his shoulders and looked disappointed with something. Alchemist placed a reassuring servo on his shoulder, "don't be upset Meister, you just wanted to see what Artificial Life had lied to you about. This just means we'll need to find a way to give you the ability to consume energon to better hide."

A staff member, that's what Alchemist said he called the staff that worked for him at his manor, came with a jug of oil and a bucket. The Prime thanked the femme as he took the jug from her, helping Meister drink the black tar-like substance. Meister finally took it after it was nearly gone, but it was only because he didn't like the look the staff member was giving him.

"We'll wait a bit for that oil to settle before going to the conservatory for work." Alchemist informed the AI before looking at the femme that finished cleaning up the mess. "Drawback, can you ask Backdraft to come to the estate? I need him to pick some stuff up for me."

The femme, Drawback, stood with her helm bowed. "Yes, Alchemist."

"Alch?" Meister looked at the Prime that turned to look at him. He smiled with his optics dimming slightly, "thank you."

Alchemist gave an amused huff, "don't thank me yet my friend. We still need to figure out how your frames came to being."

Backdraft arrived with a servo going to the doorframe and the other going to his knee. He was venting hard and condensation sliding down his frame. "Tried… get… here… traffic. Primus."

"Ah perfect timing Draft. I have some things I need you to pick up. Meister compiled a list of what I need." Alchemist tossed the datapad to the mech that barely caught the thing pad.

"Screw… you." The guard panted still as he looked at the list that seemed to go on forever. Meister didn't recognize that phrase and looked at the maroon and black camo mech. "Explain later Meister."

Meister nodded in silence before sitting up straighter, "it is later."

Alchemist laughed and Backdraft shook his helm with a firm digit point. "That was perfect Meister. Quite the mischievous one today. You ready to do some tests?"

"Yes," Meister nodded and took his time to stand up.

The pair were locked up in the conservatory, no one bothered the Prime when the doors were shut, but they were all curious to see what sort of experiments he was performing on the droid. Meister was watching four vials of his 'energon' being drawn out of him. The Prime compared the AI life source to the Cybertronian life source.

"AI sample is darker in color, thicker consistency, and appears to grow a tacky state when exposed to air." He took the notes and continued, "now let's see what happens when exposed to energon."

The mech took a dropper and sucked up a small amount of energon from a flask that was currently bubbling from the hotplate it was sitting on. There was no obvious change for several astro-seconds, and then the thick liquid started bubbling with smoke rising from it. Meister jumped off the table and pushed Alchemist away with his body changing to his Cyberwolf form when the sample melted through the microscope and table. He sniffed Alchemist as he slowly got off him.

"Are you alright Meister?" He looked at the changing mechanism with worry. Meister gave his code holder a dumbfounded look. He didn't know what to say other than point at the mess that resulted in the test. "Yes, it would seem pure energon melts through anything when mixed with your faux-energon. The question is what caused your systems to simply purge rather than melt?"

The AI gawked, "no that isn't the question Alch! The question is why aren't you upset!? I don't care if this frame disintegrated."

"Meister, calm yourself. I would have been fine. Something in that mix I gave you caused your body to react differently than it should be. But what could have it been?" Alchemist rubbed his chin in thought. Meister on the other servo was still upset with Alchemist's lack of concern.

"I'm sorry, you're going to have it replace all of that. If I hadn't accepted your offer none of this would have happened." Meister sounded genuine with his apology. Alchemist shook his helm with a friendly teek of his field. When the droid felt the field, he gave a calmer demeanor. "I don't want to purge again."

"I won't need you to touch energon until we can determine what was in the that energon that changed your reaction. Can I hear you use your vocalizer; I just want to hear the different ranges you can do." Alchemist asked as he took down notes of the results of energon mixed with the concoction coursing through Meister's lines.

The Polyhexian hummed in thought before starting with a very deep vocalization. His servos were folded neatly in front of himself as he carefully rose octaves. Alchemist sat on his stool with his optics locked on the droid. As Meister's arms started slowly rising so did his voice. He soon grew so loud that by the time he hit the final possible octave the glasses on the table shattered.

"Primus, forget your mod being dangerous. You could destroy audio receptors with that voice box. Does anything feel strained?" Alchemist felt he had gone slightly deaf and had to speak higher to make sure he was actually speaking. He stood behind Meister and gently examined his neck to see if anything broke.

"I feel fine. Like I said Alch, we go through thousands of tests to ensure we are running fine. AA models, like myself have our voice boxes go through hundreds of tests to make sure we can reach all sorts of ranges without strain or injury. The same goes for dancing." Meister stood still but kept his lax posture that he had been practicing to have just like how Alchemist wanted. Plus, it was nice to not have to stand perfectly straight.

The Prime stepped in front of the silver droid, "okay close your optics. I want to test your audio horns." Meister obediently did as he was told and Alchemist started the test with soft ex-vents near each horn, getting very minute flinches from Meister. He took mental note of that before moving on to rubbing his digits together, this time Meister tilted his helm away from the sound. Alchemist ended the test with one servo cupping around one horn and snapped his digits on the other servo directly above the covered horn. The Polyhexian hissed and physically turned his helm away from the sound. His smaller servos covered the offended horn.

"That is too loud," Meister onlined his optics. He frowned at the slight ringing in just the one horn.

Alchemist, of course looked so thrilled and started taking note of the results. "Your frame is like a perfect Polyhexian! Polyhexians aren't affected by their own voices, but when an outside force makes a sound, they feel pain. Your horns are sensitive to sound, which is why they make great thieves, assassins, musicians."

"Except I'm not a perfect copy of a Polyhexian. I have yet to know what sort of dialect they have. Why are there no Polyhexians in Iacon?" Meister looked outside the cracked glass walls with a frown. He was going to fix this up when he learned how to fix glass.

"There are less laws to follow out there." Alchemist tried to figure out how to explain a city that was more laid back with their life. The Prime snapped his digits, getting Meister's immediate attention, he grabbed a nearby datapad from a small filing cabinet that was safely tucked away under the workbench. "I know the perfect way to lighten the mood. Visors."

The Polyhexian perked up with interest. He joined the Cybertronian at a different table that had only a mini cooler and more flasks. The Prime sat the datapad down and walked away before returning with a portable terminal. Alchemist plugged the datapad into the terminal and looked at Meister with a guilty smile. "I understand," Meister opened his chest plate. Alchemist held onto the AI as he pulled out the card from his chest, his body instantly went limp in the mech's arm.

The Prime lifted the small card up to his optic and saw how a small ball of light in the center of the square item. He opened his chest plate, pulling out the Matrix, and brought the two close together. There was no sign of recognition from either item; Alchemist took that as a sign that the AI really weren't Cybertronian. He slipped what was Meister into a slot in the side of the terminal. The Prime saw that screen changed from the standard idle to a black screen with code going down it. Soon the datapad matched the terminal, and Alchemist was fearing that maybe Meister accidently got some sort of virus or something. The coding was soon gone and a single image of a pair of cerulean blue visors filled the screen.

"You like those? Did you want any of the modifications that I had included in the datapad?" Alchemist saw only a few files appear with text appearing underneath the files.

_::I like the night vision, video comms, and mini-map additions.::_ There was nothing, but then it continued. _::It says it is made out crystalline and diamond dust.::_

"The crystalline gives the shape and color while the diamond dust is coated on it to give it more strength. It will take a bit to make, would you like to wear some temporary ones to see if it's what you want?" The Prime asked while taking note of what Meister wanted. There was silence before a bright light came from the corner of the datapad. Alchemist watched the light move to the screen and a hologram of a light appeared. "Is this your true form?"

_::Yes. Are you disappointed? If you'd wish I can look like my frame.::_

The light started stretching and contorted itself until it looked like a holographic version of Meister's body. Alchemist lowered to his knees with absolute fascination. It was far from the look the coders and engineers at Artificial Life. He reached out to touch, but stopped. "May I?"

_::I can't feel anything in this state.::_

The Prime took that as a yes and slowly put a digit through the hologram. Meister may not have felt anything, but he sure did, and it was amazingly odd. His digit felt warm and his chest felt warmer, "fascinating. Can you feel anything if I touched your frame? I may not be the greatest medic, but we could make sure that AL doesn't find you at all. Later though, that kind of procedure needs blueprints and you to be in my data port."

_::Alch, you are a strange Cybertronian. I like that about you. To answer your question, no I don't retain any of myself in my frame. If you destroyed that body, I would not feel anything.::_

Meister couldn't talk while like this, which was inconvenient for him, but perhaps he can find some hidden file deep in his systems. Alchemist snorted at the hologram's statement, "and the same goes for you. Can you tell me just even a little bit on what you endured in the facility?"

The hologram finally moved his arms. The Prime saw how nervous he was, and was about to tell him he didn't have to yet, but Meister started typing fast.

_::When I was first created, I was curious to know why we were created. And while we are in the data ports that are connected to their main computer, we have access to 80% of their entire operation. We are not supposed to know about the observers.::_

"You hacked your way into their database? How did you avoid detection?" The Prime watched him shake his helm. "Meister, they _can't _hurt you. Trust me please. Whatever you saw, it could be what we need to stop Gearshaft."

_::I don't want to forget again.::_

The hologram disappeared altogether, nothing showed up on the screens, and Alchemist knew that he pushed too hard. He released an ex-vent and pulled the card out. The mech didn't mean to frighten the creature, he was just desperate for answers. Alchemist placed the chip back Meister's frame and waited for him to online. Meister sat up with his gaze away from his code holder.

"Meister-," before the Prime could apologize, Meister was quick to change into an astro fox and took off. He now felt awful for causing Meister so much stress. Alchemist went to where Meister would most likely be at, his chambers. He opened the door slowly to see the AI sitting in front of an empty wall with a servo pressed against the cool metal.

"I don't want to be deleted. I have so much to learn. And… I like it here, with Alchemist. I don't know if you are real or not, but please keep Gearshaft away us." It looked like Meister was praying to Primus. Alchemist recalled the AI mention being deleted; he rubbed the back of his helm trying to remember until he jumped from the sound of the door beside him open all the way. "Meister, I-!"

The droid hugged Alchemist tightly, "please don't make me talk about them. I don't know what I am experiencing, but it feels… dark. And, I don't like it."

Alchemist gave a sympathetic smile, "Meister what you're feeling is probably fear. Does your chest feel heavy, a feeling that something could possibly be taken from you?" The droid nodded, "that's fear. I think you _can_ feel emotions, you probably don't understand them."

"Feelings? A-Alch, I can't have emotions. We can't _feel_ them. I'm not real, even your artifact says that!" The AI pointed at the Prime's chest with another burst of something in his being. He sat on the end of the berth and closed his optics. His frame started rippling, Alchemist saw that as a calming mechanism, and he wanted to comfort the droid. Meister folded his arms with his optics going to Alchemist. "I'm scared."

Alchemist awkwardly wrapped his arm around the smaller frame, pulling him close. "It will all work out Meister. _Trust me._"

And Meister, over th deca-cycles was putting his complete trust in the Prime as well as the rest of the council. Each of the Primes taught the droid something new every groon; Prima often spoke about the war of Primus and Unicron, Primon talked about the commandments that they followed in order to become a Prime, Onyx helped Meister take on new beast forms and learn from them, Solus gushed about her creations and what they did, Megatronus would train in the gardens while Meister watch quietly, and Vector talked about his realm. Alchemist would ask the silver droid about his cycle while they ran tests. Meister didn't like the tests, but the friendly conversations made them fun. He didn't fully understand friends, but if this was what it was like, then Meister felt a glimmer of happiness.

* * *

Let me know what your thoughts are :) If you'd like more let me know down in the comments :)


	5. Chapter 5

The reason this fic is getting an M-rating is because it will talk about dark topics (Not as dark as my fic Two Worlds One Spark... I hope) there will be abuse of many kinds, depression, torture, and various other things. The first few chapters won't have much if any at all, but I promise I will make a warning at the beginning of each chapter that does contain a topic that may need a warning. Also this WILL have romance, but not until MUCH later. I hope you guys all enjoy this. I am working on TWOS still, I promise I will finish that fic.

Primes (In order of receiving Matrix) :

Prima

Primon

Onyx

Vector

Megatronus

Solus

Alchemist

Amalgamous

Quintus

Micronus

Nexus

Sentinel

Alpha

Time Units (Found on Tf wiki):

Astro-second: .498 seconds

Breem: 8.3 minutes

Cycle: 1.25 hours

Deca-cycle: ~3 weeks

Groon: ~1 hour

Klik: 1.2 minutes

Meta-cycle: 13 months

Orbital cycle: ~1 month

Solar cycle/lunar cycle: 1 day/1 night

Stellar cycle:~7.5 months

Deci-vorn: 8.3 years

Vorn: 83 years

* * *

Ch. 5

There were so many pleasant sounds, the street lights were more for decoration rather than to light anything. The lights would change colors with the bass of every song and grew more intense with the brightness every high chord hit. Meister was in Helix with Alchemist, Backdraft and Turbolight trailing them, for the first time. He saw Polyhexians everywhere with horns of all shapes, sizes, amounts, and they were just amazing in his amber optics. The buildings were very different from the ones in Iacon. Unlike the thick Cybertonium buildings in Iacon, the homes were made out of steel and palladium and had no glass in the windows.

"Femmes and gentlemechs welcome tah _Voltex_'s surprise concert! Please enjoy!" An orange Polyhexian with three horns near the back of his helm curved upwards like a slide. He had a microphone in his right servo and a strange object in his left servo. Meister dropped his helm so he could change his optic color before drawing closer to the outskirt of the crowd to see who this _Voltex_ was. There was a total of five Polyhexians on stage, they all had matching white with black jagged stripes wrapping around their frame. The crowd reach nearly fifty before the mech with the microphone placed the object over his mouth, the item was a mask that had cylindrical rebreathers on the sides of the pointed mask.

One of the others had a gold ombre electro-bass, a femme was holding a brown cyber violin near her neck, another mech had microphone in his servo, and the final mech was sitting behind a set of an electro-drum set. The guitarist and violinist started playing first before soon being joined by the percussionist lightly tapping on the cymbals. Soon the remaining two joined in with the lyrics, Meister felt warmth somewhere in his frame at how elegant the individual sounds melded perfectly together.

"M- Meister? Meister where are you? Primus where is that mechanism?" Alchemist didn't notice that they were missing the AI until Turbolight awkwardly asked why there were no more ridiculous questions. Backdraft started back tracking, thinking the AI was foolishly distracted by a vendor. The Prime and his other guard were staying where the rest of their group would meet. Turbolight was calling out to the droid that had yet to respond to him. The mech didn't sign up for this, but that the AI was important to Alchemist in a personal manner.

Meister was so distracted by the music playing that he didn't see Turbolight until he jumped when someone grabbed his servo. He was ready to defend himself, but was quick to calm himself when he saw the guard. "Turbolight, I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else. Helix allows musicians to play on the streets! Iacon doesn't allow such things without the proper authorization and licensing."

"That's nice kid, but you can't just leave without telling us. Boss is waiting, come on." The guard new that Meister was still a bit naïve, but he knew Helix was not the safest place to reside. Especially the Dead End. The AI looked back at the band with a disappointed look before reluctantly following the mech. Meister changed his optics back to normal as they walked away from the crowd. "They aren't afraid of ending you if you so much as look at their paint job wrong."

The droid frowned in a mix of disappointment and confusion, "Polyhexians are that aggressive? But only .5 percent off the population has the same CNA as Kaonions. Are they all aggressive?"

"No, but they don't like being told how to live. They are under the protection of the Council, but this place was built by rogues and killers." Turbolight explained to him. Meister looked around and saw a business transaction going on. He slowed his pace to see the customer get pissy, accusing the seller of scamming him, and the seller was getting angrier. They dropped the items in their servos and ram their helms together as they threw punches. Turbolight saw Meister standing again and he groaned with agitation. He wrapped his arm around the small frame, taking him to Alchemist.

The Prime saw the two mechs coming towards him and he was relieved to see that his young friend was safe. "Meister, are you alright?"

"Yes. Alchemist, Polyhexians use their horns to fight? They are sparked fighters like Kaonions?" The silver AI tilted his helm. He looked over his shoulder to see a pair of younglings running towards them, laughing as they played until they bumped into Backdraft.

"Sorry Mister!" One of them shouted before they took off. Meister tilted his helm and pointed at their retreating frames.

"They scanned your credit chip, Backdraft." The mech grabbed the chip that he had on his waist and saw his shocked expression turned to anger. He shouted for someone to stop them as he took off after the younglings. Alchemist snorted and ushered his assistant forward, wanting to see how this would go down. Turbolight groaned into his servo, he was the only one that was against coming to this pit hole.

Backdraft trapped the two in a corner and was demanding his credits back. Seeing the two reminded Meister that he had yet to tell Alchemist about the two AI that he had now hidden in his chambers. He found it oddly soothing to have them there. "Give me back the credits you stole from me you little heathens."

"We din't take nuffin' from us mister." The older looking Polyhexian had an accent that was much thicker than the band members had. They stubbornly held onto their credit chip, holding it away from the adult. It, however, was plucked from their servos and they whined as they looked behind them. "Hey!"

There was a black Polyhexian with tiny horns going around his helm. He wore a half-face red visor and had spurs on the back of his legs. "Now Ricochet, Zeno what did I tell you about swiping?" The three of them spike in unison, "if you're going to steal don't get caught."

The masked mech transferred the credits, but Backdraft looked even more angry. "I'm still missing three shanix."

"Call it payment for returnin' what they stole. Greetin's Alchemist Prime, are ya here for another business transaction?" The mech lifted the younglings into his arms. Meister peeked around Alchemist's large arm, getting his attention. "An AI? Thing's useless in dis city my mech."

The Prime shook his helm, "Wicker, I came here to ask if you'd be willing to teach Meister. He is a fast learner and he has something I believe you'd be interested. But not here, I don't want anyone seeing it."

"Hm, Ah suppose Ah could give dah thing a go. Ya two go play, and don't get caught." Wicker sat them down and nudged them towards the road. Meister was unsure what Alchemist could have possibly planned for him. The followed the mech to a rundown warehouse where there what were obviously guards stationed near the gated entrance. They had either full face or half face visors which confused Meister. "Dis is Mask territory, Ah run dis joint, and we have a partnership with dah Council. We're hitmechs and hackers. My crew are one of three big crew here in Helix, and we take our business serious."

"Mask? What are the other two crews, the servo and the ped?" Meister was quick to cover his mouth with his amber optics widening. The sly comments and jokes were something that would just happen whenever his systems sensed it was a good time for a joke.

Wicker stared with the other's in Meister's group extremely uncomfortable before the mech threw his helm back in laughter. The other three mechs laughed uncomfortably. "Good one. Din't know Gearshaft gave 'em a personality."

"AI do not have personalities." Meister kept his optics off the laughing mech. Wicker pulled the Polyhexian away from his code holder, taking him to the warehouse and right past the row of conveyer belts that were filled with red crystals. Wicker led them to a room that had the door open; it was very obvious it was an office just from the desk and chair facing the door.

The door shut when they were inside, "for someone tah not have personality, they can't have a sense of humor or obvious fear. What are ya? My crew couldn't find where ya kind are even made at. So, what makes ya so special?"

Meister looked over at Alchemist with a tilt of his helm. "Wicker has been trying to help figure out what Artificial Life is doing. You wanted to learn how to be a Polyhexian, he will be able to teach you a lot."

With that the AI looked at the mech and made himself a perfect the visored mech. Wicker looked shocked briefly before cat calling him. "Now Ah can see why Gearshaft wanted tah keep yer in his sights. Yer quite dah special lil' droid, ain't cha? What other tricks ya got, Sparkles?"

"Sparkles? I can copy voices as well as. What would Founder Gearshaft want with me?" Meister went back to normal with his helm still tilting to the side once again. Wicker gave the droid a look that told him what earned him that look. "Oh, not me but my kind. Founder Gearshaft spent seventy meta-cycles perfecting our coding, but because of positive reviews from his secret test group they speed up the process in order to release the first line."

"Alchemist, dis thing got a filter? He gonna spill dah oil if he keeps it up. And ya sparkled when ya changed; could be useful in my crew. AL took dah time tah make perfect frames, but couldn't be bothered tah give dah accents? Lazy work Ah say." Wicker took Meister's servos to examine them, "Haven't played any instruments have ya? Ah can tell, yet servos aren't scuffed and cut up."

Meister looked at his servos and took Wicker's to look at his. He saw the insides of the black mech's servos were riddled in cuts and scuff marks. "I know how to because it's what I was built for, but there are no instruments easily accessible to me. We adopt our code holder's dialect so we can better help." He looked at the two with a look. "Is that a preferable amount of information given?"

"Yes Meister, that's perfect. Remember, there a few things to think about before giving information; are you in a secure location? Can the bot you are speaking to be trusted? Is the information you have life-threatening?" Alchemist explained to the droid as he sat down on the couch that was up against the window with a groan.

The silver Polyhexian nodded and logged that away for further examination. He pulled his servos away to give them another look. "I wish to help the Council and learn from you."

"Well perfect! We'll start tomorrow." He clapped his servos with excitement before going over to the desk, and pulled out a data slug and tossed it to the Meister. "Helix's commandments, better study up Sparkles."

"Alchemist is this friendly name calling?" Meister looked at his code holder with confusion.

"It's playful teasing." Turbolight answered for the Prime. The droid looked even more confused, but let the subject drop. He looked at the data slug in his servo with his optics going up to Wicker.

Meister changed servos but looked even more unsure. "This slug is empty."

"Fascinatin'. Ya don't have tah use your data port tah transfer data?" Wicker walked over to AI and took the slug, and placed it in his data port before handing it back to Meister. "As ya can imagine, Ah can't afford anythin' like ya."

"We do not have data ports. When we hold discs or data slugs it wirelessly transfers the files. Data pads and terminals we use cables to get the information." He explained while the files transferred to his storage. "It will take about twenty kliks for me to review and memorize the commandments."

Meister looked over at Alchemist with a concerned expression. He went to the Prime and helped him up, "Primus, Wicker you need furniture that doesn't swallow a mech whole."

"Where's dah fun in dat?" Wicker laughed while going for the door and opened it. The mechs were filing out before Wicker grabbed Meister's servo and whispered softly into his auditory horn. "File: Enlightenment." Meister gave him a confused look, but didn't say anything as he followed the three Iaconians down the stairs. He didn't know what the Polyhexian could have meant as nothing with that file name was in his systems or in the files he got from the slug.

For solar cycles, Meister would be summoned by Wicker via a sloppy note scribbled on a datapad being stuck to his window. He would make sure Star and Saber were okay before letting his code holder he would be away. While under Wicker's guidance, he helped teach Meister how to speak like them and how to carry himself like a Polyhexian. Wicker even took the droid to a few different types of concerts that played a wide spectrum of music. Meister's new visors were in the middle of production, and the droid was excited about it for some reason.

"Yo Sparkles, come 'ere. Ah got somethin' for ya." Wicker was leaning over the walkway with a large chunk of the red crystals. After being with Wicker's crew for only a few solar cycles, Meister new exactly what they dealt in besides hacking and assassinating. It was a new drug called Chrysmagnetal, and it was a wonder how the Council could work with someone who dealt in substances.

Meister rushed up the stairs to see what the mech wanted and had the chunk dropped in his servo. "Wicker, what am- what am Ah supposed tah do with dis?" _That's correct, right?_

"Dat's for Alchem. He said he wanted tah study it. So, how'd day job go?" Meister nodded solemnly at the reminder of the job. Wicker wanted to get Meister's servos dirty.

The droid opened his subspace and pulled out a lock box, "isn't stealing wrong? Alchemist says the Council is supposed to stop those that want to do harm."

"Sparkles, 'member dat in Helix anythin' goes. They owed meh for takin' out half my production. Council may preach about equality, but out here in dah real world it's survival of dah fittest. We steal only what we need tah survive. Ya dig?" Wicker opened the lock box and started running his digits through the small hill of credits.

"Steal only when needed. How do you know when it's okay to steal?" Meister was too busy with learning and getting things straightened out to use the accent.

The visored mech sighed with his shoulders drooping. "Have ya ever had barely enough fuel tah get by? Limbs fallin' off? So many viruses dat medics tell ya tah just snuff yerself early?" Meister shook his helm, "when Ah was younger Ah stole energon tah keep meh online. Had tah do all sorts of things in order tag get parts Ah needed. We, Polyhexians, are proud and don't lie down for any and every one. Got it?"

"I believe so. Can I go or did you have something else for me to do?" Meister was getting better at causal conversations; at one point he walked up behind a visitor at the Prime towers, who was admiring one of the pieces of artwork, and they talked about their opinions on the Primes before the bot turned to see that they were talking with a droid. Then the attitude quickly changed and the bot left with a sour attitude.

"Naw ya can head home." Wicker lazily waved the droid off. When Meister was half way down the stairs he called out, "hey Sparkles! Give yerself some color, gray is so Prima-era!"

The droid looked down at his frame with a confused expression. He activated his mod and his silver frame was washed away by a milky white with black starting from his servos and ending mid-forearm, his peds were black stopped mid-shin, and finally his helm was black. "Is this better?"

"Hm, it'll do. Use dat while yer here! We can't have dah Prime's assistant bein' seen without him, now can we?" Meister assumed it was some form of playing, but with a mech like Wicker it was difficult. He logged in the request on the disguise and headed back to Iacon, which was a rather long drive.

When the AI returned to the manor, he was greeted by a pair of younglings running out the door with smiles on their faces. His helm twitched and his optics cut out briefly when he didn't understand why they were out here. "Star, Saber what are you two doing out of the room?"

"I suppose Maccadam was right once again about guests." Alchemist was standing in the doorway with an amused look in his optics. Meister on the other servo didn't think it was funny. He put them behind him and used his arms as shields. "Meister, you're not in trouble and I'm not going to hurt them. They told me about what you did. Come inside so we can talk."

"They hurt them," Meister looked at them with a slight frown.

Alchemist stepped back inside and gestured for them to come back inside. Meister took their servos as they walked inside silently. He deactivated his mod as they gathered in the lounge. The Prime closed the doors before sitting on the table to look less threatening to his friend.

"Now, why don't we start by asking why you are so defensive? I would never hurt younglings regardless if they are AI or not." Alchemist put one of his servos on Meister's, hoping the contact would help.

The AI looked down with his servos folded in his lap. "The very first solar cycle of me being here, you told me that all life was worth protecting. Especially younglings; their code holders hurt them and they can't protect themselves. It is against their coding to hurt their creators as that's how younglings are supposed to be." Meister bowed his helm with his servos curling tightly. "How can someone who wishes to be a creator hurt their creations? They may not be Cybertronians like you, but they are still younglings. It goes against what the Council believes in. I may not be a household AI, but I want to protect them."

"Sometimes Cybertronians don't appreciate life the same as others. Your new friends are safe with me, I promise nothing will happen to them. But next time please tell me before bringing others to the estate." Alchemist looked into the three pairs of amber optics. "Have you shown them around the property?"

"I did not want risking anyone finding them." Meister looked at Saber thoughtfully and then back at his code holder. "You wanted to see how my kind communicated, would you like to see?"

"If you three want to." Alchemist wanted to see, but he also didn't want to push them into doing something that would make them uncomfortable.

Saber hopped to his peds with Star doing the same thing. "Meister said you wanted to know about us. We want to help." The bigger of the two told the Prime before looking at his servo and then placed it on his brother's chest. Star did the same thing and his servo glowed too.

"Fascinating." Alchemist went to touch them, but Meister was quick to grab the servo.

"It is dangerous to touch when connection is made. This is how we see memories, trade information, and converse without disturbing anyone. Another way we communicate is similar to Cybertronian spark merging, we merge the energy from the chips." Meister explained while the younglings pulled their servos away from each other. "Would you like to see what we see?"

The Prime was both fascinated and horrified at how similar the AI were to his kind, even the way they spoke through their sparks or whatever it was that was contained in their chest was called, was like a bond. "Didn't you just say it was dangerous?"

"A two-way connection is, but we can bypass it. When we have a two-way connection it's like a small bomb." Meister didn't want to scare his friend, but he wanted to be honest. He held his servo out to his friend with a smile on his face. "Trust me."

The large silver mech took the smaller servo before Meister placed his servo on Saber's chest. It was almost immediate when the Matrix bearer saw coding and memories that were not his own. He saw some of Meister's before seeing a femme and mech that he did not recognize. In Meister's memory it was like looking through the bottom of a bottle, everything was blurry. He was placed inside a container and restrained before the container closed him inside.

_That is what I saw before being shipped off to the distributor._

The memory of the couple scolding who Alchemist assumed was Saber. They were mad at him for running around the house and broke a valuable piece of art. He could feel how bad the youngling felt for breaking it, but it was in his core coding to act like a youngling.

_I didn't mean to break it. Star and I were playing._

The connection broke and to say that being in connected to an AI in such a way didn't feel fragging weird would be an understatement. Alchemist looked at Meister with a sympathetic expression. He may have only been able to see his memory briefly, but he felt his fear. "I will _never_ allow any harm to come to any of you, I promise. Even if I don't live to see it, I will have your people free."

Meister looked at the other two AI thoughtfully and then up at Alchemist. "I trust you, Alch."

"Does Artificial Life put modifications in youngling frames?" The Prime asked Meister later in the lunar cycle. He had given up his berth so the younglings could have as much space as they wanted. They were in the conservatory doing some tests on fuel again.

The droid nodded, "upon request. They still act as true younglings, so giving them mods can be dangerous. Saber and Star's code holders had mods placed in them, but they won't tell me what they are."

"They're scared, which is completely normal after what they went through. Okay, let's try your artificial energon with a bit of amethyst flavored energon." The chemist mixed the energon and amethyst together before dropping a couple drops of Meister's into it. There was an instant reaction, the energon started crystallizing into a weird purple, blue, and black. "Oddly pretty, but not what we're looking for."

Meister had offered to take notes for Alchemist while he experimented. "May I suggest when call our life energon Synth-En or engex? I just would rather not be associated with Artificial Life any more than I already am."

"Synth-En? Alright, what I've been able to gather from examining and studying it, your Synth-En contains only .001% of actual energon. When something that low comes into contact with energon of anything higher it reacts to it. I would imagine if we replaced all of your frame's parts with ones of a Cybertronian, then you would be able to consume actual energon. We know what happens when it's exposed to pure energon." Alchemist looked over at the black mark on the floor from the acidic energon.

The AI crossed his arms as he examined the situation. "Pure energon and Synth-En causes an acidic effect and different minerals cause different reactions. In that mixture I tried, I did react in a way that would be seen in overcharged Cybertronians. What if we adjusted the amounts?"

"Hm, perhaps, but volcanic ash is hard to come by and Dark Mount doesn't go off very often." Alchemist went over to his cabinets to see if he had any left. He pulled out the container that stored the gray-purple ash. "And unfortunately, it looks like we are out."

"What if I asked Wicker for access to the black market? Surely they can get us some." Meister was actually enjoying himself, learning about his kind as well as being free to express himself and speak his mind. _My reserves are getting low. _After that thought an idea came to mind, and Meister looked up with excitement. "Cybertronians have oil in their systems and can safely consume oil. What if we tried that plus Synth-En and energon?"

Alchemist rubbed his chin in thought before his optics lit up. "Excellent idea Meister! I will order in a small shipment of every type of oil for us to try. You are brilliant, absolutely brilliant!" He closed the space between them and picked the droid up in a crushing hug.

The droid grunted from the hug, "A… Alc…-emist. Too. Tight!"

"Oh!" He sat the smaller frame down and dusted his shoulders off. "My apologies."

Meister smiled and shook his helm, "you are an excited spirit when it comes to experimenting. It is a nice feeling to my coding."

The pair finished up the cycle cleaning up the mess before refueling. Meister went into his chambers to see that there was a large bump in the middle of the berth and a light coming from it. He tilted his helm with a smile at the sight, not exactly sure what about it made him smile, but regardless it did. "You two were supposed to be in stasis."

They pulled the blanket off of them with their amber optics looking at Meister. Saber looked at the datapad that was in his servos. The Polyhexian joined them, getting forced into the middle of them. "We want you to read this to us."

"Yeah!" Star shouted excitedly and snuggled closer to the large frame. "Meister, we can stay with you?"

"Alchemist has allowed it for the time being." He scrolled through the datapad that the youngling AI wanted to read. The older AI looked at them in surprise at the fact they were wanting him to read one of the encyclopedias. The drones all knew that it would be easier to get the information if they connected to each other, but Meister knew that it was more fun to learn the way Cybertronians did.

Meister started reading the datapad from the beginning and when they came upon a mechanimal, the drone would change into it to give the two younglings a closer look. It was odd to the larger AI to be doing something that wasn't a part of his coding or what he was built for, but it was also nice to have something different that wasn't entirely on his code holder's shoulders. Even though he was not coded to tend to the youth, Meister did lots of research on how to care for younglings. He noticed that Saber and Star had fallen in stasis when he reached the middle of the datapad. The droid carefully switched spots with Star and wrapped an arm around them. When Meister looked at the small frames he smiled when something happened again in his chest.

_What is that?_

* * *

Let me know what your thoughts are :) If you'd like more let me know down in the comments :)


	6. Chapter 6

The reason this fic is getting an M-rating is because it will talk about dark topics (Not as dark as my fic Two Worlds One Spark... I hope) there will be abuse of many kinds, depression, torture, and various other things. The first few chapters won't have much if any at all, but I promise I will make a warning at the beginning of each chapter that does contain a topic that may need a warning. Also this WILL have romance, but not until MUCH later. I hope you guys all enjoy this. I am working on TWOS still, I promise I will finish that fic.

Also I forgot to mention that I was inspired by Detroit: Become Human (DBH)

Primes (In order of receiving Matrix) :

Prima

Primon

Onyx

Vector

Megatronus

Solus

Alchemist

Amalgamous

Quintus

Micronus

Nexus

Sentinel

Alpha

Time Units (Found on Tf wiki):

Astro-second: .498 seconds

Breem: 8.3 minutes

Cycle: 1.25 hours

Deca-cycle: ~3 weeks

Groon: ~1 hour

Klik: 1.2 minutes

Meta-cycle: 13 months

Orbital cycle: ~1 month

Solar cycle/lunar cycle: 1 day/1 night

Stellar cycle:~7.5 months

Deci-vorn: 8.3 years

Vorn: 83 years

* * *

Ch. 6

"You want me to entertain at this gathering? What about the twins?" Meister asked as he helped said twins with their homework packet that Alchemist got them two orbital cycles ago. The two didn't tell anyone outside of the manor or the Council about Star and Saber because they didn't want their code holders to get ahold of them again. Alchemist had also noticed that the twins were becoming more open like Meister in expressing themselves.

"They'll have to stay in your chambers because high grade will be involved. Don't worry though, we can have Backdraft keep an optic on them." Alchemist stood up with a groan.

Saber sat his stylus down and looked out the balcony window with a bored sigh. "Why do we have to do school? We don't go through the same life cycle as Cybertronians."

Meister chuckled with an understanding nod and leaned over the chair that the youngling was sitting in. "Because, you are still a young AI and education is important. Even though our life cycle is different doesn't mean you can't learn still. Numbers four and ten are incorrect."

The Prime had kept his receptors open for any possible creators looking for missing creations, but not even Artificial Life came knocking on his door. "Younglings, why don't you go play out back? I'd like to discuss some adult topics with Meister." All three of them looked surprised at the sudden request, but the two brothers weren't going to question at the chance not doing school. While they rushed out of the room, Meister cleaned their mess as he listened to what his code holder had to say. "Did you do something to them? I can't believe that their creators let alone Artificial Life haven't come for them. I'm not saying we should return them, but I would like to know."

The Polyhexian looked over with his brand new cerulean blue visors that were coated in diamond dust. He wore them everywhere he went, and he could see an immediate difference in treatment by Cybertronians because of it. Only time he didn't wear them was when he had to act like a droid. "I did the same thing to Star and Saber as Maccadam did to me. I also managed to deactivate their trackers. They're code holders do not deserve them Alch; if they were willing to hurt them what would they do to their actual creations? I thought Cybertronians were supposed to care about their young?"

"I can't be sure what they would do to a creation they would give life to. And remember Meister, I said that fully grown Cybertronians, like myself, are harder to determine whether they are good or bad. For an AI that wasn't… _ahem_, programmed to care for younglings or sparklings, you do an excellent job. But back to my request, you don't have to do any entertainment if you don't want too." Alchemist picked up his energon and Meister's oil, bringing the drinks over to his friend. Meister took the oil with a soft thanks.

"Well it's not like you have much in the way musical interest. I suppose it would nice to actually preform." Meister sat the datapads back down and took a sip of it with a thoughtful hum. He looked up at his code holder, "this is premium oil mixed with something."

Alchemist walked around the small droid waiting for a reaction. Meister took another sip of his fuel, but after the second sip he started coughing and handed it back to him with a shake of his helm. The Prime finished his energon and quickly retrieved a trash bin that was in his office just down the hall. He handed it to Meister in case he lost his tanks.

"It tasted like what I imagine battery acid would taste like. A bit of warning would be nice." Meister said while trying to end his coughing fit. He went to lean against the table behind him, but his entire servo missed, and he fell to the ground with the table falling against him. "Primus Alch, what did ya put in that?"

Alchemist was quick to set the energon down and assist his friend back onto his peds. Well, they tried to get him on his peds, but it was like Meister's legs were made out of petroleum jelly. "Okay, garnet and energon mixed into oil is a definite no. And look, you just successfully used a Polyhexian accent without thinking about it!"

"Celebrate later Alch, I would much appreciate the use of my legs." The AI looked up at his friend as the Prime half carried his friend to the kitchen. Alchemist nudged the swinging door open with his ped and led him inside. The kitchen was pristine and empty which Meister was silently thanking for because this was really embarrassing to be seen carried around.

"My apologies, I should have another container prepared in case something happened. Do you have a mineral gauge in your systems like us? It keeps track of the minerals we are supposed to have in our systems." Alchemist asked as he looked in the large cooler for the oil. He perked up when he saw something better. "Hey, you know what we haven't tried? Treats!"

The titan turned with the oil cake that was meant for the party in his large servos. Meister looked interested in the oil cake, and he was become more curious in seeing if he could consume it. The Prime sat the plate down on the island that he sat Meister on. The oil cake's base was this tan color with a tan color and oil had been poured on top of it. "There is .25 percent lead in the oil. Lead was one of the additives in the energon you had me try."

"Then shall we try it?" Alchemist was once again an eager sparkling stuck in an adult frame. He went over to a drawer and pulled out two forks. Meister watched his friend cut a small slice for what he assumed was for the both of them to share. The droid watched how the Cybertronian stabbed a bite size piece off and ate it with a satisfied smile before doing the same.

The silver mechanism chewed it softly and thoughtfully before swallowing it. They watched and waited for a reaction, but when there was nothing Meister looked thrilled and jumped into Alchemist's frame with a cheer. "There was only 15 percent energon in the oil cake. We did it, Meister!"

The two were soon joined by the young AI's standing in the doorway. Meister dropped out of the hulking frame and dropped to his knees with his servos going to their chests. The younglings looked up at Alchemist with pleading optics when they saw the reason for the excitement. Alchemist lifted them onto the island and fed them each a bite. Saber was the first to squeal in excitement before bouncing in his spot with his legs kicking.

"This means we can be like you, Alchem?" Star looked at their guardian for an answer.

"I'll have to make something that will adjust energon for you, but yes you'll be able to consume it just like me. Perhaps I can even make something for your optics, and you can go to school without anyone picking on you." Alchemist was so excited that he had a million inventions he wanted to make just for the droids.

Saber shook his helm and leaned against Meister's frame with his arms tightly holding on. "I don't want to go back there. I like being here with you and Meister. You're better Creators."

Meister stilled at the compliment, "oh Saber."

"He's right! You and Alchem treat us like younglings. I… I was recoded twice because my Creators got tired of me." Star looked at his lap with a sad expression.

Alchemist's arm wrapped around all three of the AI with a big smile on his face. "I don't know what you are or how you came to be, but I will never allow either of you be recoded again. You have my word."

The time for the party was here and Meister was feeling something in his mid-section, and he was just standing quietly beside Alchemist and the other Primes before he heard the voice from Artificial Life advertisements. The droid turned with his frame tensing when he saw a black and gold striped droid that was in an Iaconian frame. The Cybertronian beside the droid was the same height as Prima, he was a dark blue color with a white v-mark on his back. The Council saw that the droid was no longer engaging in conversation and saw what caught Meister's attention.

"Esteemed Council, it warms my spark to hear that you purchased one of my droids. And this must be it, I recognize my handiwork anywhere. My name is Gearshaft, founder of Artificial Life, and this is my personal droid Artemis." Gearshaft introduced the AI beside him more as a formality before focusing on Meister with a smug smile. Meister saw that Artemis went to touch him, but he moved out of reach. "Well there seems to be a glitch with this droid, they aren't supposed to refuse trading information."

Alchemist was quick to defend his friend, "I told Meister to allow any information to be traded. I imagine you can understand that as an… inventor you don't wish to have all of your valuable data be leaked."

"Oh right, how foolish of me. Well this specific droid had pass all of the standard tests with flying colors. If you hadn't taken him, I would have added him to my collection." Gearshaft folded his arms with one of his servos going up to his face. Meister looked down with embarrassment at the attention he was getting. "What's the purpose of the AI droids, Meister?"

The droid looked up at Gearshaft as he was forced to answer. "AI droids were created to make Cybertronian lives easier, take dangerous positions where Cybertronians could deactivate from, and do whatever else our code holders want." _Like mindless drones._ Meister knew what was happening, and he knew that he had to keep up the act just long enough until Gearshaft and Artemis left. He looked up at Alchemist with his arms going behind his back and the fakest smile he could muster. "Alchemist Prime, your tank levels have lowered ten percent. You also have to mingle with seventy percent of your guests."

"We can mingle in a bit." Alchemist didn't want to have Gearshaft or his AI out of his sights. He smiled down at his friend, "are you up to singing?"

The droid saw that Artemis was watching the way they were interacting. His helm whipped to the Polyhexian with his helm slightly twitching. Meister smiled and bowed his helm. "I will put on an excellent performance for you and your guests." The party was held in the empty party room that took four cycles to clean and prepare for the party.

Near the back of the room was a small stage with a microphone standing at the front of the stage. As soon as Meister walked onto the small platform, the room silenced, and all optics were glued to him. He didn't know why he was feeling unsure or safe or whatever this feeling was, but he took a soft calming intake and played what song he could think of first.

_I'm trying to hold my breath_

_Let it stay this way_

_Can't let this moment end_

_You set off a dream in me_

_Getting louder now_

_Can you hear it echoing?_

_Take my hand_

_Will you share this with me?_

_'Cause darling without you_

_All the shine of a thousand spotlights_

_All the stars we steal from the night sky_

_Will never be enough_

_Never be enough_

_Towers of gold are still too little_

_These hands could hold the world but it'll_

_Never be enough_

_Never be enough_

_For me_

_Never, never_

_Never, never_

_Never, for me_

_For me_

_Never enough_

_Never enough_

_Never enough_

_For me_

_For me_

_For me_

_All the shine of a thousand spotlights_

_All the stars we steal from the night sky_

_Will never be enough_

_Never be enough_

_Towers of gold are still too little_

_These hands could hold the world but it'll_

_Never be enough_

_Never be enough_

_For me_

_Never, never_

_Never, never_

_Never, for me_

_For me_

_Never enough_

_Never, never_

_Never enough_

_Never, never_

_Never enough_

_For me_

_For me_

_For me_

_For me_

When Meister hit the final note, he stared into the crowd for a gauge on how he did. Solus started clapping with her brothers soon joining her, and then the rest of the room joined in. Meister smiled brightly and bowed with a servo on his chest. He stepped off stage when the Primes migrated over to the stage. Alchemist put a servo on his back with pride in his field, which made the AI feel even better.

"That was beautiful Meister." Prima congratulated the droid with a smile.

"You were extraordinary." Onyx was impressed as well.

There was lone clapping coming from behind the group. They saw that Gearshaft was walking to them once again, but this time he was by himself. Primon excused himself, saying he was getting more energon, but Meister felt the lie in his field. "Truly magnificent, I knew you would represent my company splendidly." He pulled out a small cube in his digits and got in Meister's personal space with it pressing against his lips.

"Gearshaft." Alchemist said his name with such disgust at how he was treating his friend, regardless if he was just seen as a tool by him or not. Meister took the cube with absolute reluctance; once he took it Gearshaft said his farewell and left them. "Meister, are you okay? You didn't need to take that from him."

"I can't let him know." Meister kept his helm turned away from them. He felt absolute embarrassment for what Gearshaft did to him. Megatronus was watching the AI closely to what he what he would do with his shame. He may not have viewed the droids as equals to Cybertronians, but he knew how he was feeling.

The party had ended near two groons ago and Alchemist had yet to find Meister, which was worrying him. He looked at the nearly unopened master file that Meister had transferred to him when he brought him home. There was a sub-file labeled 'locater', when it was opened Alchemist saw the blip appear in the holo-map in his HUD. "The greenhouse?"

Alchemist went outside and made the long walk to the small building that housed some light sensitive cyber-organic plants. He had taken the AI there only a couple times during the lunar cycle to show them a different kind of beauty that you wouldn't be able to see in the solar cycle. When the Prime made it to the brick building that eerily only had one soft glowing light on the outside above the door, he knew that the AI was inside.

He opened the door to reveal the rows of bioluminescent purple leaves that showed they were getting close for harvesting. Picking off the leaves of one plant was Meister. "I've been looking everywhere for you, had to use that tracker. I'm glad to see that Wicker's teachings are sticking."

"I'm sorry, I just couldn't be inside after the party. The bio-plants are ready for harvesting. They seemed to have responded positively to my harmonics." Meister kept his voice soft as if he were to speak any louder it would disturb the plants.

"Meister, I'm sorry I didn't stop Gearshaft from doing that. I don't even know how he heard about the party. It was just the Council and our supporters." Alchemist apologized once again as he joined the Polyhexian's side.

The AI sat what leaves he harvested on the table they were sitting on and turned to face his code holder. His face felt strange and he touched his face with his systems screaming at him that this wasn't normal. The Prime could tell that something was stressing Meister out, but without a field to feel it did make it difficult. Meister pulled his servo away to show a blue staining his digits. He started to panic more until Alchemist intervened.

He tilted Meister's face up to see that streams of tears were running down his face. "Meister, are you crying?"

"Crying? I can't cry Alchemist-"

"I know, I know AI can't feel their emotions. But this," He wipes off some of the blue tears from his face and showed him. "These are tears. Did what Gearshaft do to you really upset you?"

Meister pressed himself against the larger frame as he felt more of these tears fall down his face. "It was so degrading and embarrassing. Being talked about like a product when you've treated me so kindly just reminded me of what I am. What is happening to me Alch? Am I glitching? I shouldn't be questioning you or anyone, feeling anything, or crying. I'm not real." Alchemist felt a 'but' coming on, "but I feel real at the same time. Is that wrong?"

"No that isn't wrong. It just shows and proves our theory that you are more than coding and simple AI or drones." Alchemist held onto his distressed friend, knowing that he needed to be held until he was done. "Come on, let's harvest the rest of these and then head inside. Hey, I got the perfect thing to cheer you up."

The AI looked up while wiping his face, "I don't think preforming for tests would cheer me up Alch."

Alchemist laughed with a shake of his helm as he started harvesting the leaves. "No, this experiment I actually did not need you to be present. And that is all you will get out of me. Now help me finish this so I can show you."

Meister nodded with a small smile. They got all the harvestable plants finished and in the light proof container before heading back to the manor. The AI could feel the giddiness coming from the Prime which made him smile almost with pride, knowing that despite what Meister could only label as a 'meltdown' Alchemist was still happy. "How you can always be happy despite the bad things that happen?"

"I find there are moments to be sad but there are more things to be happy about." The silver Prime held a digit up as if he had a brilliant idea, "like for example despite your bad creation, you gained many friends and are raising two intelligent younglings." He looked down with his servo gesturing to make his point. Meister smiled and nodded at the encouragement. They entered the conservatory and the AI gave his friend a look, but Alchemist just gave him a calming gesture before holding up a flask that contained purple energon with black swirls in it.

"I tested it on your Synth-En, and nothing happened to it. I haven't come up with a name for it, but it _should _have the same effect as if it were high grade." Alchemist offered it to Meister with an excited smile. The silver droid took the flask and took a sip of the concoction. He looked at his frame and then shivered violently, "how do you feel?"

Meister took another sip, "it's like a surge of energy! And it's good, what's in it?"

"80% Full synthetic oil, 10% pure energon, 5% lead, and 5% silver." Alchemist said enthusiastically. He was so glad that his friend didn't react too badly to the mixture he made for him. Meister continued drinking it until he hit the half way mark, and Alchemist took the flask away from him with an apologetic chuckle. "Okay, I don't think we want to see what happens when you become overcharged right now. I'll have to make some more of this."

The AI nodded before giggling into his servo and Alchemist gave him a puzzled look. Alchemist looked around for whatever could have gotten such a reaction from him. "What is so funny?"

"My anti-virus software is trying to purge a glitch from my systems, but… but there isn't one." Meister started laughing into Alchemist's chest. The Prime took note to add less energon to the next batch he makes. The silver mechs went to the AIs' room and told Meister to quiet his giggling since the younglings were in stasis. "Alch, is this going to backfire tomorrow?"

"Perhaps, but you recharge now, and we'll see how you're feeling in the solar cycle." Alchemist helped the older AI into the berth and made sure they were all situated before heading for the door. He turned around to see they all snuggled closer to each other with their servos touching their chests. The Prime smile sadly at the sight, remembering all the memories the sight brought. "You are destined for great things my friend."

* * *

Let me know what your thoughts are. If you'd like more let me know down in the comments :)

Song: Never Enough from The Greatest Showman


	7. Chapter 7

The reason this fic is getting an M-rating is because it will talk about dark topics (Not as dark as my fic Two Worlds One Spark... I hope) there will be abuse of many kinds, depression, torture, and various other things. The first few chapters won't have much if any at all, but I promise I will make a warning at the beginning of each chapter that does contain a topic that may need a warning. Inspired by Detroit: Become Human (DBH)

Primes (In order of receiving Matrix) :

Prima

Primon

Onyx

Vector

Megatronus

Solus

Alchemist

Amalgamous

Quintus

Micronus

Nexus

Sentinel

Alpha

Time Units (Found on Tf wiki):

Astro-second: .498 seconds

Breem: 8.3 minutes

Cycle: 1.25 hours

Deca-cycle: ~3 weeks

Groon: ~1 hour

Klik: 1.2 minutes

Meta-cycle: 13 months

Orbital cycle: ~1 month

Solar cycle/lunar cycle: 1 day/1 night

Stellar cycle:~7.5 months

Deci-vorn: 8.3 years

Vorn: 83 years

Currency:

1 credit: ~60.25 shanix

1 cred card: 400 credits

* * *

Ch. 7

_I can do this. Wicker says it's important to show that I'm willing to get my servos dirty for the Council. These mechs are corrupt and would do harm to Cybertron than good._ Meister reminded himself as he looked at the blade that was in his servo with almost uncertainty. He memorized their faces, their habits, even their favorite way to drink energon Meister knew by spark. The AI was sitting in the back of a sketchy bar, watching his targets chat about something. Meister shifted into a rose gold Polyhexian femme and elegantly walked over to the bar right beside target number one.

"Vial of high grade and rust flakes." Meister changed his voice to match the tone that he wanted to get his targets' attention. The bartender nodded and started mixing 'her' drink. When it was handed to the patiently waiting AI, Meister made sure to slip in the small capsule that Alchemist made so he could consume energon. Movement caught Meister's attention and target number two moved to the other side of 'her'.

"What's a pretty thing like you doing in a place like this?" Target number two asked with a slightly overcharged smile. Meister had to play his part to a tee if he was going to get them both out of here and in the room that he was supposed to terminate them in.

"Well, I'm looking for a distraction. My conjux decided that his secretary was better than me." Meister remembered that these two often targeted mated femmes, so the brief narrative was just enough for them to instantly bite.

Target one decided to join in the conversation. His servo moved to the slender servo and comforted the spark broken femme. "Well he clearly doesn't know what he's missing."

"You think? I'm… I'm not that attractive." Meister said with fake innocence as with only a single shift of weight both mechs instantly locked optics onto 'her' aft. "And to think my heat cycle started."

The mechs both looked like Primus literally landed in their servos, and knew they just needed to get this perfect prize. "Say, my buddy and I were looking for a good time. Why don't he head back to our place and have a bit of fun?" Target one ran the back of his digits up the slender arm, distracting his target long enough for his partner to slip something into her drink. They both grinned when she elegantly sipped her tainted drink.

"Why not my place? I have soundproof walls." Her sweet, ignorant smile sealed the deal for the two. The two mechs onlined with groans and looked around, expecting to see the pretty femme standing in front of them, what they weren't expecting was a black and white Polyhexian mech. They started struggling and calling for help, but the mech shook his helm and picked up the blade from the table he was facing. "The walls are soundproof, remember? Did you think that drugging me was going to okay? Did drugging all those femmes when they were at their weakest was okay? Their lives lost, ruined because of you. Were those credits really worth it? Selling your own mates off worth it?"

The first target struggled hard with a growl, "you don't know what you're talking about! Who are you!?"

Meister folded his arms behind his back with a tilt of his helm and an innocent smile. "I can't be revealing that part to you, either of you, just yet. I find memory scanning with Cybertronians so interesting. You retain your memories in a different way compared to how we store ours. I wonder if it's because we have more memory chips than your species." He held up the dagger and gave it a slight flick, igniting the metal twine with a blue flame.

"What the frag is wrong with you?! Let us go!" Target two shouted as he pulled against his restraints until energon started leaking from his wrists.

"Nothing, Wi- my trainer told me that with mechs like you, to take my time with. And I'll let you go." Meister walked over to the mech on his left and sliced a small hole into his chest, ignoring the screams from the obvious pain he was inducing. His servo shook from his lack of experience. When he looked at his final result he frowned in disappointment at the jagged edges. "Not what he demanded, but that just means I need to adapt more."

Meister pulled the sliced metal further apart before carefully pulling the spark out, making sure the thin tendrils were still connected. "P-P-Put that back! What do you want from us!?"

The AI started at the spark that was glowing softly in his servo. He leaned in to get a closer look; the droid could feel the spark's warmth radiating near his face. "What do I want? Something you cannot give me. It's time I let you go to Primus now." He took the blade and severed the tendrils in one violent go. The mech released a loud agonizing scream before his chest arched with a short gasp, and he collapsed back on the chair that he was tied in.

"Y-You killed him! You killed him you psycho!" The remaining target rocked in his chair before he fell backwards, effectively breaking his wrists. Meister dropped the gray spark and went for the mech that was trying to escape. "Let me go! Let me go you murderer!"

Meister tilted his helm and fixed the Cybertronian upright. He pulled out the mech's hardline cable and gripped it tightly in his servo. "I am not a murderer; I avenged the lives you took. I saw everything that you did to those femmes and now you will feel what they felt." The AI sent edited files of the hundreds of victims him and his buddy took to their sick auction house. Meister carved another hole, this one being much neater than the first one, and pulled out the spark with the same gentleness. "You betrayed the trust of Primus and the faith of the Council. Goodbye."

_"In other news, two deactivated Iaconian mechs found hanging on the top of the Alpha Room apartments. Enforcers were not able to find any prints besides the victims. There were no witnesses as of now, but chief Starburst had this to say: 'Whoever this killer was, is a newbie from the jagged cut in the spark chamber and both of their sparks were destroyed.' This is Magna from Global Cybertron Network signing off."_

Wicker turned off the holovid with his arms crossed and an annoyed expression on the lower half of his face. "What happened tah bein' discreet Meister!? Commandment number one is-"

"Don't get caught. Ah know, but dah enforcers won't be able tah pin it on meh. Dah prints Ah left are gonna be all 'em and when they find out they went tah _Zap's_ dah only suspect they're gonna have is a femme dat don't exist. Trust meh. Ah don't take my duties lightly." Meister assured his teacher while cleaning the energon off his servos.

The leader of Mask wanted to beat the bloody AI to a bloody pile of scraps, but he knew that this was a learning experience for both of them. "Next contract Ah give ya, yer takin' one of dah others with ya. Show ya how tah cut like a bloody professional. Now get outta here."

Meister nodded and headed back to Iacon where the twins were waiting for him at the front door of the manor. They shouted in excitement when they saw his silver from, jumping into his open arms. "What did I say about coming outside? What if someone sees you?" He reminded with a smile as he went inside with the younglings clinging to his frame.

"Alchemist said we could play outside after he looked at our coding." Saber threw his servos in the air with an excited shout.

"Yeah, he said he wanted to see what made us different from Cybertronian younglings. How was work?" Star asked with a curious look on his face. Meister had to start calling his visits to Helix as 'work' to keep the questions minimal. He didn't want to terrify either of the younglings with some of the things Wicker had him do.

The older AI carried them to the conservatory, knowing his code holder was there just from the mention of Alchemist studying the brothers. "Work was… gruesome. I will have to put the memory into a private folder before I let either of you read me." The conservatory doors opened up and there was the giant silver Prime mumbling to himself while scribbling down notes on a giant double-sided data board. "Hello Alch. That task that Wicker asked for me for is done. Was there anything you needed me to do?"

"Meister, perfect timing! Come, come!" The Prime sounded like he had been looking at the forsaken board for cycles. He stiffly sat Star and Saber down before ushering Meister onto the table and started scanning him with enthusiasm. "What was it that you said? Sorry, I just had a revelation. How old are you _really_? You said you're vorns old, but when were you brought online? How old is your frame? I looked at the young sparks; Star's code was written three vorns ago but was brought online only a deci-vorn ago. Saber was half that with almost exact coding to Saber's only a couple strands were different. Their frames are what a third and second stage youngling looks like. Do you get what I'm getting at?"

Meister watched Alchemist grab a cable that was connected to the datapad that he picked up and plugged it into the side of Meister's neck. "So even though we are written possibly vorns before we were brought online, we do not consider 'aging' until we are online. Star and Saber's ages make sense; the household droids and the creation droids were announced and released to the public at the same time. But there is a flaw in this whole thing," when he got the Prime's attention he continued. "You are aware that Star and I have both been recoded some time in our life cycle. Are you adding that into our current life?"

"Ah, right. I forgot about that part. Hmm, you said that you don't remember being recoded unless the coders told you. But they didn't tell either of you how long the span of your previous onlining, being recoded, and being onlined again was, did they?" Both of the AI shook their helms which got a nod in response. "So, unless we get that information from AL's database that data is irrelevant."

Alchemist started scanning his systems and started transferring the copy of Meister's codes to the data board. "First ten strands are basic AI coding strands, online… six vorns and then offlined for a vorn and back online a meta-cycle ago. Next five strands are interface protocols, basic signs of what a Carrier mech would have... one peculiar strand. All eight-hundred strands are common Polyhexian strand. Three more oddities. A thousand Modification strands."

"That is the second time you said that, what are these oddities?" Meister unplugged himself from the datapad.

"Oh! I don't know, both Star and Saber had odd strands that are not found in standard AI. Here, I'll show you." Alchemist went over to his terminal and rapidly started typing something before going back over to the board and pulled up coding lined up almost perfectly to Meister's except the droid's coding didn't overlap in some spots. The Prime circled the non-overlapped strands with a stylus. "See these? AI, regardless if they are made by Artificial Life or not, do not have these strands. I've seen these strands somewhere before, but I can't quite put my digit on it. Now mind you, this is while you're in your frame. Things may change when I take you out and compare your coding. It's like… transferring a spark like mine into a frame of say a Praxian. I don't have Praxian coding in me, but if I were to be placed into a Praxian frame new coding would replace parts of my old coding."

The older AI nodded slowly, somewhat understanding what was being explained. "I think I understand. What else makes us different from other AI, besides the odd coding and physically having a frame."

Saber and Star grew uninterested with the conversation while Meister only grew more curious. Alchemist scrolled through the two coding strands while giving his answers. "Well no AI needs interface coding, not unless you plan on sticking it in a frame. Even AI that are designed to look like a species, wouldn't need _all_ the coding. They also don't need modification chips."

"What if we rewrote our coding to give us blue or red optics? And what about my mod? Would it change my coding as well?" The silver droid questioned while the Prime started circling more areas.

"Hm, I suppose we could do that. Like I said spark transfers can sometimes result in coding changes. As for your coding, we can test that out now. Hook back up to the datapad and we'll see what happens here." Alchemist went to the Polyhexian coding strands and waited for him to get ready. He watched the Polyhexian shift into a Praxian and saw coding changing from Polyhexian to Praxian plus additional wing coding appearing. "Amazing. Now can we see you change into a beast of some kind?"

Meister nodded and shifted into an astrofox before sitting down. Alchemist had that fascinated look in his optics. When he changed back into himself he shook his frame with a shiver. "I would assume it safe to say that my coding changes as I change. Would we call my mod a form of another transformation? Like those triple changers."

"Mmm… I wouldn't call them a true transformation since you can change your colors as well. I think maybe shifter would be more appropriate." Alchemist explained as he unplugged Meister. The AI nodded in agreement with the statement. The Prime looked at the silver Polyhexian with a curious expression. "Can I examine your… well your chip?"

The droid nodded and laid on the table with his chest plate opening. Star and Saber were now interested in what the adults were doing again. They stood on the tips of their peds to watch the Prime pull out their guardian's chip. "Alchem, what do we call our chips?" Star asked the Prime as he walked over to the microscope.

"Ooh, ooh. Since we're calling our life energon um… um… Synth- En, can we call our chips our pseudo-spark?" Saber suggested with a smile on his face. Alchemist nodded with an agreeing sound as he picked up a pair of tweezers.

The younglings both whimpered and ducked away, but the Prime was quick to comfort. "I won't hurt him, I promise. I just wish to see what Gearshaft has locked up behind these prongs." He just barely pulled one of the prongs back before the doorbell chimed through the entire house. Alchemist and the younglings were startled by the sound and his jump accidently sent the telescope and Meister's chip flying. The Prime dove for the chip, catching it before it could hit the ground.

"Meister! Is he okay?" The younglings ran over while Alchemist placed the chip safely back into the shell.

It took a bit before Meister onlined with his optics lighting up his visors. "Alch, I would appreciate not being thrown."

"I jumped, I'm sorry." Alchemist helped him up as Backdraft opened the door. The adults looked at the mech that was looking through the door, "yes Backdraft?"

Star and Saber hid behind the desk as the other Cybertronian entered with a visitor behind him. A femme stepped inside with her servos folded neatly in front of herself with a friendly smile on her face. The mech gestured to the femme, "Alchemist Prime sir, this is Tempest. She is the conjux of one of the minor lords."

"It is a pleasure being in the presence of a Prime. I had gotten word that you were possibly hosting two mechlings." She looked at th Prime with absolute concern in her words.

Meister glared at the femme and resisted the urge shift into a Predacon right then and there. He knew she was lying through her dentas and so did Alchemist. The Prime couldn't lie to her sense all of his staff have seen them playing around. "Younglings, come on out."

"Alch." The Polyhexian whipped his helm up to the Prime in disbelief while Star and Saber came out from behind the desk. The femme, Meister refused to remember her name, dropped to her knees with her arms opened and a relieved smile was on her face. The younglings looked up at Alchemist with their lips quivering, but he just nodded at the still waiting femme.

They went to her and the AI clenched his fists at how fake she was. "Thank you for returning my sons home. We looked everywhere for them, but to know our Prime was so generous to care for them just shows you were chosen wisely. What do you tell the nice Prime for caring for you?"

"Thank you." They both stuttered and were walked out the door. Meister ran for the closing door with his servo pressing against the cool metal.

Backdraft knew that the AI adored the little droids, so seeing him rushing through the door once it slid back open actually hurt. Meister booked it for the front doors as they were slammed shut in front of him again. He went for the nearest window and started smacking the window as he screamed out their names. Alchemist walked over to his friend and put his servo on his shoulder. The AI pressed his face into the thick armor as he started venting. "She's going to… to hurt them again! Alch, how could you send them back to her!? She's going to hurt them!"

"Meister, Meister I had to. I had to give them back to her, bots have seen them here." Alchemist didn't want to turn them over, but he legally had to now that they were claimed. He knew that his friend was going to have a hard time adjusting to not having them, but he also couldn't just pretend they weren't there. "We'll figure it out, we'll get them back I promise."

The Polyhexian nodded and revved his engines weakly. "Why would anyone tell that, that monster about Star and Saber?"

"I don't know Meister, but I'll figure it out I promise. I promised you all that none of you will be going back to Artificial Life and I will keep that promise." Alchemist put his servos on the small shoulders, feeling the tense cables in his shoulders. Meister didn't need or require intakes, but he found it relaxing as he tried to calm himself down. The droid looked up at his code holder with his servo wiping his face. "You go rest and we'll come up a way we can legally get those younglings back."

Once again Meister nodded and looked back out the window with his optics narrowing and a wave of a negative energy surged through him. _I will get them back no matter the cost._ He put on a smile to show the Prime that he was okay. "I trust you Alch."

At Wicker's place he tossed three neon blue clear pieces of plastic across his desk with a satisfied smile. Meister picked them up and looked at them curiously. "Dat's for takin' care of Tightrope and Overdrive a deca-cycle ago. And then dah rest is a down payment for yer next contract. Seems there's been word in dah Dead End dat someone is releasin' spark eaters onto dah empties, and since yer dah only one without a spark,"

"Ah won't be bothered by 'em. Alright, holoimages like last time?" Meister asked as he subspaced his payment. He started to leave before turning around with his frame shaking. "Wicker, Ah don't want dah rest of dah payment tah be credits. Ah need information on a femme who took somethin' from meh."

Wicker folded his servos behind his helm and propped his peds up. "Ya come back with dah good news and we'll discuss business." The droid nodded and exited the building with the coordinates being sent to his visor's HUD. When Meister returned to the distillery, he was covered in cuts, scuffs, and energon. The leader was paying one of the other Mask members until they both did a double take on their new member.

"Slag, ya lookin' like ya tried tah mate with a spark eater." The member that was in the office was an older Polyhexian that was properly named Warp, for his sick sense of humor. Wicker, of course, doubled over in laughter while Meister put his servos on his hips. "Oh, come on Meister dat slag was hilarious. Loosen up a bit."

"Wasn't expectin' tah walk into a nest of 'em." Meister looked at his arms with disgust before spitting out the energon that he still had in his mouth. "It's hard tah feel for a field when there is no spark tah read. Did ya know they smell like grime and rust?"

The two Polyhexians gave each other weirded out looks before laughing. "And dis is why Ah love ya Meister! Yer unconventional humor is so, so amusin'!" Wicker went over to the droid's side and threw his arm over his shoulder, completely ignoring the squelching sound that came from the energon splattering more. "Now about dat info. Who and why?"

"Tempest, mate tah a minor lord. She stole somethin' important from meh and Ah want it back." Meister growled out her name and his fists clenched.

The two other mechs looked at each other before looking back at the Polyhexian droid with dark smiles. "Do ya feel dat in yer frame? Dat overpowerin' burnin' feelin' in yer core? Do ya picture dis femme disapperin' from dah face of dah planet once she's in reach?" Wicker's entire tone and attitude changed while Warp locked themselves in the office and dimmed the lights. "Do ya just imagine drivin' dat dagger deep in her chest dat her spark splits in two?"

Meister's digits twitched with his servos curling more. "She took Star and Saber from me. I want to ruin her."

"Good, good hold onto dat anger dat hatred. Let dat emotion fuel yer soul, let it be yer inspiration. Dah Council will do only so much, but they refuse tah get their servos dirty. We may follow dah Council, but we do what we _have, need_ tah in order tah see dat Cybertron is purged of dah evil it has." Wicker stood behind the AI with his servos holding onto his shoulders with a firm grip. Meister watched his visors being removed before Wicker's mask was brought to his face. "Let yerself open up tah what Ah see."

Meister closed his optics before reopening them and saw thousands of live feed cameras showing various parts the bad parts of every city. Wherever his optics looked the visors focused on the corresponding camera, and the camera moved wherever he looked. "This is how you find the information you need before giving us our contracts."

"We'll help return yer lost lil' bolts, but Ah want tah know yer gonna be willin' tah kill lives for Mask, turn yer back tah dah Council when dah inevitable happens, dat yer gonna do whatever it takes tah live." Wicker switched their visors faster than Meister could comprehend. The AI looked ahead, then his energon covered servos, and then finally turned around with his visors turning red.

"I am."

"Welcome tah Mask." Warp smiled beside Wicker.

Deca-cycles of patience and determination led to this moment. Meister had been with the Council, listening to what they decided to talk about when a message appeared in his visors. It was marked with just the glyph for 'm', but Meister knew exactly what it was, and he was quick to lean beside his Prime's receptor and whispered softly. "My fuel levels have lowered some since we decided to test out my Predacon form today."

"Oh, why didn't you tell me earlier? I'll meet you at my office." Alchemist replied just as soft.

"I was thinking of going to the market and see if there was anything that struck my interest. If that is okay?" Meister tilted his helm with a smile.

The Prime was surprised at the request, but he was relieved to hear that his friend was wanting to explore again. "Of course, get whatever you want. I'll see you back home then."

Meister dipped his helm and left while opening the message. He was given a set of coordinates and several images of the femme that took Star and Saber away from him. The Polyhexian was going to wait until the lunar cycle to take them back, so in the mean time he had time to prepare for a much safer place for them to hide that wasn't going to be disturbed by anyone.

::Hi, my name is Quickshadow and I saw an ad saying you had some apartments available. Yeah I have time now to come see them.:: He put on a sweet tone, changed the harmonics a bit and quickly transformed before going off to Helix. The AI knew that Tempest and enforcers wouldn't think to look there, and with Mask around no one would be able to get them. He had to also change their features just enough to make them less likely to be found. Meister transformed and stepped into an alleyway before shifting his frame from his silver paintjob to a pure black frame with silver chrome flames on his chest plate. The Polyhexian decreased the size of his chest plate and bulked up his shoulder guards. He removed his visors and changed his optics to a blue color.

When Meister believed that he was good to go, he went inside the apartment with a smile. There was a yellow and orange Polyhexian that was sitting in an office that was blocked off except for a window and a hole at the bottom of it to slip credits through. "Ah, you must be the mech I spoke to on the comms. Quickshadow right? I'm Jumpstart."

"Yes, I'm moving back from Uraya. I was hoping to see any apartments that has one room, it's just me and my creations." Meister explained with a smile. The tenant looked through the window with confusion at the lack of creations. "Oh, they're at school. School just became too expensive."

The tenant scoffed in agreement, "you're telling me. Back in my day, school was so cheap I could have bought a school! Alright, I have two that are five hundred credits the first solar cycle of every deca-cycle. Small, there is a single quarters, a small living area, a small washroom, and a kitchen area. There is working electricity and water, if anything breaks just comm me. I'll be available between the ninth and sixteenth cycle of the solar cycle."

Meister nodded as he was led up the stairs, taking them to the second floor before heading to the back of the building. Jumpstart showed him around the place briefly and Meister smiled and looked at the mech. "I love it. If I had the credits now?"

"Are you sure you want this dump?" The tenant was weary of his eagerness.

Meister nodded, "it's perfect. We'll make do with it." The AI labeled and categorized the many projects he needed to do to make it a suitable place for them stay.

"Well alright, we'll take care of the paperwork and the place is yours." The tenant was surprised the creator took this room. Most of the other creators that he showed this one to freaked out.

After the paperwork and payment was done, Meister got the key card to the apartment. He thanked Jumpstart and went back to Iacon where he was going to get some things, like paint. Most of the basics like thermal blankets and cleaner he would just take from his room at Alchemist's. The AI felt bad for lying to his friend, but he had to do this. He had to save Star and Saber from that femme. When got what he needed from the manor and the shops at the marketplace, he went back to the apartment and dropped everything off.

By nightfall, Meister was sitting on the windowsill of what looked like a youngling's room. He was disguised as a small avian that had just decided to roost for the lunar cycle. There was crashing and screaming before the door slammed open with an enraged Tempest holding a paddle at two frightened younglings.

"Why do you keep trying to run away!? Am I not good enough for you freaks!? You refuse to consume any of the energon I make for you! You complain about going to school! Not going outside! I should take you back to Artificial Life and get my credits back!"

"No, please we're sorry." Star put himself between the crazed femme and his brother.

Meister watched her smack them both of them to the ground before leaving them, even locking them inside. He watched them hug each other tightly. "I want Meister, Star."

"I do too, but we can't get out." Star hugged his brother tightly before Meister tapped on the window with his beak. The two AI went to the window, opening it up and watched the avian fly inside, shifting back into Meister. They went to shout, but the older AI tapped a digit to his lips. "You found us."

"I've missed you both so much. Come on, I'm taking you both to a safe place." He picked them up and went for the windowsill before Saber stopped him. "Star we have to go."

"You're not going to make her disappear, are you?" He looked up at him with soft sniffles.

Meister looked at the locked door and then at the window. "No, no I won't hurt her. I want you both to hold on tightly okay, I'm going to be shifting a lot." He warned as their hold tightened around his neck. The Polyhexian crouched on the sill and leapt down. As soon as they were far enough, he shifted into a small Predacon silent their landing before shifting into a large transport vehicle. He started rolling out without turning his headlights on until they were on the road.

"Woah that was cool! Are we going back to Papa Alchemist's?" Saber asked as he looked around in the open cabin.

"No, I'm taking you to Helix. No one will be able to find you there. I got us a place to live, and I've got something for you both if you want them." Meister explained while keeping cool. Sure, he was paranoid, but it wasn't the fact he just stole younglings but rather that someone saw him use his mod. "I won't be able to stay with all the time, but with my work I'll come see you both a lot."

"Why can't we just stay with you at Alchem's? I can turn invisible and Saber can make holograms to hide behind." Star sniffled and hugged his knees to his chest.

Meister sighed and remained silent until they came to the Helix border. He shifted with them in his arms again, "Star, I can't lose either of you again. If someone saw you at the manor or if Alchemist saw you, I would have to give you back to that femme. Here, I have a better chance of protecting you both from being recoded or deleted."

"Okay. Can you stay with us tonight?" Saber rubbed his optics as they walked through the empty streets. Meister shifted into his Quickshadow persona, "woah pretty."

"Why thank you. And I will, I need to change your looks. Now I need to both read me so you know who we are going to be while we're here." Meister whispered as the small servos touched his chest. They pulled away after a bit and looked up at his optics. "This disguise will only be around when we need to be outside."

"Do we have to use different names too?" Star asked as they entered the apartment building.

Meister shook his helm and went straight up to the room with his senses on high alert. He swiped his card and entered swiftly. Saber and Star were sat down so Meister could return to normal. Over the deca-cycles while waiting for news on the brothers, he had time to put furniture in to fill up space as well as place some of the spare sound dampeners that Wicker had given him. "I know it's not as fancy as Alchemist's manor or your code holder's home, but it was the best I could do."

"That's okay, you wanted to keep us away from Carrier. Can you teach us how to take away the master file?" Star asked while Meister gave them the short tour. Saber saw the capsules that he remembered from Alchemist's home.

"Are we going to get energon!" Saber asked with extreme excitement, getting his brother to shush him. He ducked his helm and covered his mouth. "Whoops, I'm sorry."

Meister shook his helm with a big smile as he knelt down to their level. "It's okay Saber, that's why I have the sound dampeners. You can get excited as much as you want, but you do have to try and use your inside voices. I'll show you both how to remove the master file after we've fueled."

"You said you had a surprise for us. Was this your surprise?" Star asked as they watched Meister use a boxy machine that sat on one of the counters. Steam rose from the top of it as energon spewed out of a thin tube. The younglings both oohed and ahhed as Meister filled up three glasses full of energon and then dropped a capsule into each of the glasses. "Won't Alchemist find you though?"

"I work here on occasion, if he needs me then he will comm me. As for the surprise, I need to clean and repair you first." Meister handed two of the glasses to the younglings and followed them to the table to consume their energon. Star and Saber eagerly sat at the table with their energon being sat in front of them.

They quickly started drinking there energon-oil mix with a happy glow in their optics. "This is so good Meister! How come Founder Gearshaft didn't want us to have energon?" Star asked while kicking his legs happily. Meister shrugged while drinking the mixture too with a bit of thought.

"I don't know Star, but we won't have to worry about that anymore. Alchemist has enough of the capsules to not fear energon." Meister took his servos with a smile before standing up with an even bigger smile. "Now, are you ready for your surprises?"

The younglings both sat their cups down with excitement. Star and Saber were sat on the cheap couch while their new guardian went into the only berth room and returned with a large crate in his servos. Meister sat the crate down and opened it up with the younglings' excitement slowly turn into confusion. Inside the crate were two sets of armor that had a thin metal barrier that separated them. On the right side was a set made of washout white with red secondary on the shoulder plates, helm, and legs. On top of the armor pieces were a set of black antennae. The left side was also the same washout white except it had red, yellow, and blue accents. The two frames were designed the same except the left side didn't have the antennae like the right side.

"Alchemist and I had made these when we had you both staying with us. I managed to save them from being disposed and I wanted to give them to help you hide from them." Meister smiled and knelt beside the crate. "Do you want to put them on now?"

Saber grabbed one of the pieces from the left side and looked at it with a hum. "Can we put them on now? Papa Alchemist made them for us?"

The silver Polyhexian nodded with his visors coming off, "yes after I get you both cleaned. Papa Alchemist? You really like him?"

"Yeah, Papa Alchemist is really nice even if he had to give us back. Star and I know why he did it, and we aren't mad at Papa Alchemist. You and Papa Alchemist are still our creators." Saber sweetly said before hugging him with a small purr. "When Papa Alchemist and his friends tell everyone that we are just like them, we'll be able to see him again and live like a family!"

Star joined the hugging pair with just as much happiness as his brother. "Can we get clean now?"

"We sure can!" Meister scooped them up in his arms as he carried them to the small washroom. He turned on the water in the small shower and helped clean both of the younglings off with happy hums. Both Star and Saber laughed and played around while Meister cleaned all three of them up. Meister was carefully removing Saber's old armor when his comlink went off. ::Hello?::

::Meister, it's Vector Prime, Alchemist gave me your comm frequency. May I speak with you at Maccadam's?:: Vector Prime asked.

::I will head over in a groon. I have… something to do in Helix.:: Meister picked up one of the leg plating for Saber and attached it in place. He attached the other one while being used as a balance. ::Is that okay for you?::

::Yeah, oh and Meister. I hope you know what you are doing.:: Vector Prime commented before disconnecting from the comlink.

The older AI sighed with a bit of disappointment. He really wanted to stay with them, but he didn't want to cause a problem with the Prime. Star grabbed his servo and smiled with a sympathetic smile. "It's okay Meister, we'll behave while you're gone. Can you tuck us in at least?"

"Of course. How is the armor? Not too tight is it?" The silver droid questioned while placing the old armor pieces in the case. He was going to dispose of these pieces so there was no possible way that they could be found. Meister knew that now his Star and Saber were safe from Tempest or anyone that would take them away from him.

Both of them nodded with enthusiasm, "now we look pretty!" Star looked at his new frame with a big smile before jumping into his guardian's frame with a small happy purr. Meister hugged both of the mechlings in his arms with a matching purr. "Don't worry Meister, I can get us our fuel while you're gone."

"If you need anything, comm me. Now you two need to recharge." Meister picked them up with a nuzzle as he carried them into the berth room. The room had a large berth that took up most of the space, but it gave just enough room for a nightstand where a single lamp sat. He had a couple of datapads sitting on the nightstand as well, one contained several stories that he had read to them when they were still at Alchemist's manor while the other was one of the encyclopedias from his code holder's collection. He sat them down on the berth and tugged the thermal blankets down and over their frames. "Tomorrow, I will come back to actually spend time with you both."

He put his servos gently on their chests and traded information with them before nuzzling them once again. Star and Saber rolled over and held their servos tightly. Meister didn't want to leave this sight, but he had to go to Maccadam's before too late. He turned the lights off in all of the rooms and left Helix for downtown Iacon. The droid entered the bar where he was greeted by Maccadam with a cube of hot oil waiting for Meister. He sat on the stool with his servos cupping the jug of oil.

"I'm not giving them back to her," was the first thing that left the droid's mouth.

"I wasn't going to ask you to do that Meister. She won't be around long enough to take them from you anyways. I summoned you here to ask a question about you; well more like answer your question that has been burning in your processor." Maccadam was wiping up a spot of spilt energon. Meister looked at the bartender in surprise but had to force himself to remember who this mech really was, and what he could do. He sipped only a small bit of the oil in front of him.

The AI bowed his helm with a small sigh, "do you know what I am? Why Gearshaft made us?"

This time Maccadam sighed in disappointment with a shake of his helm. "Unfortunately, I do not. When I look in the past I see only increments of random events whereas in the future I see important events. Like the one I saw of those young AI you have hidden away, they are important somehow in your story Meister." He sat his cloth under the bar and leaned forward with his mustache twitching. "And just like this one I'm about to tell you. There will be a mech in the archives that will need your help, there will be a deep wound just under his left chest plate and another just near the sixth disc on his spinal strut. That is all I saw, but I cannot tell you how far into the future this is, but I can tell you there will be a mech of importance by the name Alpha Trion in power during this event."

"Why are you telling me this? Wouldn't you want to tell the Council?" Meister stored that information in the same area he stored his Helix memory files.

"Because it is a part of your story. This event will shape you into who Primus meant for you to be." Maccadam stroked his face again. Meister looked into the mucky liquid in his servos with a thoughtful gaze. He may have thought and verbally expressed his gratitude for having friends among the council but being told that he can make a difference to Cybertron, it made him smile even more at the thought. The droid jumped the bar and hugged the startled Cybertronian before the action was returned with a comforting feeling in his field.

* * *

Let me know what your thoughts are. If you'd like more let me know down in the comments :) In case you all were wondering, Star and Saber were named after the canon character Starsaber. Their new frame color and style are similar to what his TF: Victory colors are.


	8. Chapter 8

The reason this fic is getting an M-rating is because it will talk about dark topics (Not as dark as my fic Two Worlds One Spark... I hope) there will be abuse of many kinds, depression, torture, and various other things. The first few chapters won't have much if any at all, but I promise I will make a warning at the beginning of each chapter that does contain a topic that may need a warning. Inspired by Detroit: Become Human (DBH)

Primes (In order of receiving Matrix) :

Prima

Primon

Onyx

Vector

Megatronus

Solus

Alchemist

Amalgamous

Quintus

Micronus

Nexus

Sentinel

Alpha

Time Units (Found on Tf wiki):

Astro-second: .498 seconds

Breem: 8.3 minutes

Cycle: 1.25 hours

Deca-cycle: ~3 weeks

Groon: ~1 hour

Klik: 1.2 minutes

Meta-cycle: 13 months

Orbital cycle: ~1 month

Solar cycle/lunar cycle: 1 day/1 night

Stellar cycle:~7.5 months

Deci-vorn: 8.3 years

Vorn: 83 years

Currency:

1 credit: ~60.25 shanix

1 cred card: 400 credits

* * *

Ch. 8

Meister sung the last note magnificently which was rewarded by a wave of applause. He looked at his audience with a smile before bowing and walked off stage. The AI joined Alchemist's side with a smile on his lips. "Do you think they will donate for the orphanage?"

"After your performance, I have little doubt that they won't resist donating. How are you feeling my friend? You've been awfully busy with Wicker; I've missed spending time with you." Alchemist drank his high grade mixture, his sixth glass of high grade which meant that Meister was going to have to care for him during his aftermath. They were at a charity party to renovate the orphanage; all donations were going to the orphans. And the best part was that there were so many younglings around that he could bring Star and Saber without anyone knowing. They were playing in the field with the other younglings that were brought here with their creators or the orphanage. He saw them playing like normal younglings, which caused his chest to warm.

"Alchemist sir, you should really calm down with the energon. I don't want to deep clean the shuttle." Turbolight was on guard duty tonight, which meant that if Meister excused himself then it wouldn't be any problem. "Oh 'fore I forget, Megatronus and Solus were looking for you Meister."

"Oh, did they say why?" Meister took the glass away from his code holder, helping him find his seat. He wasn't going to lie and say he didn't worry for Alchemist's health with all of the high grade he was consuming, but the Prime always said he was okay. The guard shrugged and the AI checked the overcharged Cybertronian one more time before going to see what the Primes wanted of him. He bowed his helm in greeting, "you wished to see me?"

The two Primes both looked at each other with a bit of concern in their optics. Megatronus was the one to speak for them, "we have a job for you dr- Meister." The Polyhexian knew what he was going to say had it not been for the femme elbowing the mech. "You see, we have gotten word that one of the lords has been dealing in some illegal activities. Some of them being substances and avoiding taxes. We need you to find out which one it is and bring them to the Council for questioning."

"What city are they from?" The droid asked the councilors.

"Praxus. His name is Vanguard, we don't want him killed understand. Just bring him to us for questioning." Solus reminded Meister.

The AI nodded with a smile, "I'll see to it that it gets done. Want me to bring him early tomorrow?"

Megatronus nodded and Solus shook her helm. The mech looked at his friend with a frown, "Solus the faster we get this problem dealt with the faster we can focus on more important things."

"If we move too fast then it'll draw attention. We should get as much information on why Vanguard is doing this and then we can retrieve him." Solus gave her opinion with her arms folded in front of her.

While the AI was watching the two bicker he felt two servos grabbing his digits. ::Meister we want to go home, we're tired.:: He heard Star's voice through the short wave comlinks.

::And we're thirsty.:: Saber whined.

The older AI assumed they were using Star's invisibility mod since neither of the Primes were reacting to them standing behind him. Meister looked at the Primes with a smile, "I will get what information I can and report my findings. I need to fuel and see that Alch is taken home before he crashes."

"Oh, I see that our brother is getting too into the partying mood. Alright don't let us keep you then." Solus teased the absent mech.

Meister turned and felt the invisible servos gently wrap around thighs. He went over to Alchemist and put a servo on the mech's back. "Alch, we should take you home. Light, do you think you can do that? Solus Prime and Megatronus has asked for my help in an assignment."

"An assignment? No, no, no, noooo. Meister we have another test to do. We were going to test out to see if you could use a… a… Prime weapon." Alchemist was hiccupping and tried to stand up on his own, but his arm gave out before he even had a chance to stand. "Okay, maybe I should get some recharge. Meister, you are a great friend. I will find out what Gearshaft did to your people, and he will answer for his crimes."

Meister only managed to get a single glyph out before the Prime suddenly stood and pulled him into a crushing hug. The droid chuckled uncomfortably but he returned the hug. "You are a great friend to Alchemist Prime. Now may I please be sat down before you crush this frame?"

"Oh right!" The Prime sat him down and brushed him off before grabbing his flask that was off the table. "I will see you in the mid-cycle."

The droid canted his helm with a smile, "good lunar cycle friend."

The three droids went outside, as far as they could away from the party before Star and Saber became visible again. Meister covered his mouth to stop himself from laughing. "Primus, you two must have had fun playing with the other younglings. Were they nice to you both?"

"Mhm! The orphans were really nice to us. Can we go over and play again when you're busy?" Saber asked while Meister shifted into a Predacon. They climbed onto his back and held onto whatever they could as he took off into the air.

"Yeah, how come they were nice than the younglings we went to school with?" Star asked as they flew towards Helix.

The faux-Predacon looked over his shoulder briefly before looking back ahead. "I will have to think about it. The orphanage is near the Prime towers. And when you don't have any creators or family besides those you can relate to, you have little room for prejudices on those you are different from. There are younglings in Helix you can play with, but-"

"But that means telling your boss about us?" Star finished for him. Meister stopped flying and just hovered in the sky, startled by the youngling's response. "I saw the note on the table and read it. I'm sorry Meister."

The Predacon shook his helm, "no it's okay. I shouldn't have left it out. I don't want you a part of this. You're both still younglings and you can't be installed with weapons like I can. Wicker was the one who helped me find you, so he already knows about you both."

"Can we meet him?" Saber asked with a smile.

"Perhaps." He returned to fly before shifting into a Seeker and slowly landed on the roof of their home. The younglings held onto his neck as he shifted one more time. They went inside the front door before the land lord stopped Meister.

"Quickshadow, a mech dropped this off for you. Said it was important." He sat a small box on the counter and pushed it through gap under the window. "And you both look like you were playing outside for a while. Look like genuine Polyhexian creations."

Meister had noticed that in Helix there wasn't much judgment on the fact that Star and Saber were AI. He could only assume it was because the Dead End was full of empties and this was the city of mischief and the crooked. Star grabbed the package since his caretaker's arms were full. "Really? Even though we don't have horns?"

"Kiddo when you live in this city, it don't matter what you look like. If you feel the soul of the music, the true spark of Cybertron, then you will always find home in Helix." The landlord said, getting a smile from both of the younglings.

Saber yawned and snuggled closer to his caretaker, silently letting him know he was tired. Meister thanked the mech and went up to their apartment. He got their fuel and cleaned them up before laying them down on the berth. They all cuddle close to each other with their servos on their chests. Meister wasn't in the least bit ready to settle down, but for the two AI that were afraid their old caretaker would get ahold of them then he wasn't about to leave.

Meister onlined to the sound of a window opening. He sat up and looked to see that Saber sand Star were still deep in recharge. Carefully he shifted into his Cyberwolf form and stealthily walked out to the living room with a deep growl. His growling caught the attention of the mech that was planting a datapad down. The droid saw the mask covering his face and the red chevron on the mech's arm before relaxing. "How did Wicker find me?"

"Dis place is under his protection. Jumpstart commed us tah tell us dat a random mech with moving platin' moved in with two youngling droids. He's under instructions tah report any strange things. Wicker has a job for ya." The mech tossed the datapad as the droid returned to his frame. Meister picked it up and examined it silently.

"He can't be serious, he wants me to steal from the Council? And how does he expect me to steal a guarded artifact like the Shield of Megatronus? He keeps it with him at all times." Meister didn't like this in the slightest. "The Council trusts me to help protect their secrets."

The soldier shrugged before going to the window, "not my problem. Ya got a problem with it, then take it tah Wicker."

Meister was pulled out of his thoughts by a tiny servo tugging his digit. "Meister, you're not going to take from Papa Alchemist are you?"

"No, no I won't do that. I can't do that to him." Meister knelt down and put Saber's servo on his chest. "I'm telling the truth."

Saber dropped his servo after looking at his guardian's memories, "Papa Alchemist is lucky to have you as a friend. Are you going to go to work now?"

"Yeah, I have to take care of the noble that the Council want me to bring to them. And then tell Alchemist about Wicker. Stay safe while I'm gone, okay?" Meister hugged Saber before he was greeted by a still onlining Star who just flopped onto his arm. "Star, make sure you both get fueled and don't answer the door for anyone."

"Okay Meister." Star nuzzled the Polyhexian before they were left alone in the apartment.

Finding the mech the Council wanted was super easy, especially when Meister was able to trick the mech into thinking that the Council was going to improve his status. When Vanguard was standing in the middle of the room, the doors closed behind them and Meister stood beside Alchemist with a smile on his face. He leaned next to his receptor and started whispering which triggered the noble. "Woah, hey what is that thing saying? I thought my status was improving?"

"Oh really?" Prima looked at the silver droid that was still whispering to his code holder. He looked back down at the panicked looking mech, "well I imagine you know the real reason for you being brought here? We will allow you the chance to explain yourself after we have listed your crimes. Tax evasion as well bot trading and substance trading. How do you plead Noble Vanguard?"

The mech didn't get a chance to speak before Alchemist piped in. "I would like to add an additional charge. Murder. My assistant discovered Noble Vanguard cleaning his servos and a bladed weapon of energon as well as chopped limps on the table behind him. He reported the findings to the proper authorities on their way here."

The Council looked at the AI quietly before he gave his input, "the remains matched the description of a mech that had been reported missing for a stellar cycle. My visors have recorded the whole thing from the moment I stepped up to his door."

"That is completely false! I would never do such a thing!" The noble mech shouted and pointed at Meister with a growl. "When did the Council start trusting Polyhexians to ever speak the truth?"

Everyone looked at Prima and Primon for their thoughts. They leaned in close to each other with their words inaudible to the rest of the room. After a klik both of old matrix bearers nodded and looked at Vanguard but it was Prima that rose to his peds. "Until the alleged evidence can be confirmed by the enforcers, we will only focus on the crimes we know are real." Meister gawked and went to speak up until Alchemist quietly put his servo on his friend's arm. "We have all of the documents that shows you have been avoiding your taxes as well as evidence that puts you at the scene of the trading rings that have or are currently being torn down."

"The credits are mine! They shouldn't have to go to the poor!" Vanguard stomped his ped with an arm pointing in a general direction behind him. "If they want to be able to get their own energon, then they need to get jobs like the rest of us!"

Solus rose to her peds and nodded with a slender servo pushing her tendrils off her shoulder. "That is all of the confession the Council needed to hear. From this moment on you will no longer retain your noble status, your possessions will be turned over to the treasury to pay back for the amount you have failed to pay, and you will spend a vorn in prison."

Vanguard gawked in anger before grabbing at his chest and dropped to the ground. He started shaking as growls came from him. Onyx leaned forward but no one was going to move from their spot. Turbolight moved from his spot near the door to see what was going on. Meister saw energon dripping from the downed mech's mouth and he went to stop the mech, but Vanguard tackled Turbolight to the ground with a loud shriek. His mouth was splitting open, showing off hundreds of sharp denta lining his mouth. The Council all shouted and backed away while the creature tore open the scream mech's chest open. Meister jumped over the table and tackled Vanguard away from the limp frame.

The droid knew he reacted too late by the tank churning crunching sound of a spark being eaten. He shifted with a loud growl before a fight broke out between the spark eater and the droid. Alchemist and the other Primes all stood slowly as they watched Meister grip the neck of the screaming creature. Meister shook his helm vigorously until the body went fly across one side of the room and the helm went the opposite direction. The droid's code holder spoke calmly as the cyber wolf went over to Turbolight's gray frame. "Meister? Meister, are you okay?"

The cyber wolf whined when his snout touched the cold metal. He shifted back and struggled to stand as he pressed his servo firmly against a part of his framed under his arm. "I-I tried to save him. He ate his spark."

"You risked yourself for us?" Megatronus sat his shield down on the part of the table in front of him. "Why?"

The AI took a staggered step forward as he spit out the acidic tasting energon of the spark eater. "Because you're my friends."

A clean up crew was called in while Alchemist stayed with Meister while one of the others had the unfortune duty of contacting Turbolight's family. A medic had been commed to patch Meister up. "Meister, what you did was brave, but you could have gotten yourself killed."

"Ha, these things have no concept of self-preservation or morality." The medic scoffed while he cauterized the fuel lines. "I don't even understand why Gearshaft even bothered making these things, I repair actual bots not these drones."

Meister looked up at Alchemist with a frown. The Prime put a servo on his back and spoke to the medic with a firm tone. "Medic, have you worked or been around a droid? Asked them for their thoughts?"

The medic stopped his repairs with an uncertain expression on his face. "No? They never say anything except to answer questions. It's not like they have ideas of their own. That's why they're called AI."

"Perhaps we do not speak our minds because we are afraid of what our code holders would do to us if they found out?" Meister looked at the medic with his helm tilting to the side. "If you did not try to scan for a spark, if you saw me would you think I was a droid or another Cybertronian?"

The medic licked his lips and welded the gashes on the silver mech's side. "Well I repaired what I could, no major fluid loss, all your droid needs is to let… its repair system to finish the repairs. If there is no one else that needs fixed, I need to head back to the hospital." He packed his toolkit and quickly retreated out of the room. Meister frowned as he carefully rose to his peds. The droid lifted his arm and touched near the fresh welding job.

Alchemist knelt down and looked at the three short claw marks. "I'm sorry my friend. We had no idea that Vanguard was a spark eater."

"You don't need to be sorry Alch. You're my friend, I protect those I care about." Meister looked up with a smile. He looked at the spot that was stained from Turbolight's energon. The Polyhexian felt sadness and guilt for not being able to save the mech. "I'm sorry Turbolight."

Meister returned to the apartment with a heavy feeling in his being. A smile briefly came to his face when he saw the younglings jump up from the living room floor and run to greet him. He winced slightly when they tackled him to the floor, "we thought something happened to you! You didn't come home from work yesterday."

Saber held onto the Polyhexian tightly and he felt tiny drops hitting his shoulders. Meister pulled away to see both of them were crying and shaking with fear, "I'm sorry both of you. I should have come back. I promise to never leave you again. I will always return to you both."

"Is this what the Cybertronians feel when they love someone?" Star wiped his optics with a smile on his lips. He snuggled back into the silver frame, "because if it is then it feels good."

"It does feel good."

* * *

Let me know what your thoughts are. If you'd like more let me know down in the comments :) In case you all were wondering, Star and Saber were named after the canon character Starsaber. Their new frame color and style are similar to what his TF: Victory colors are. I will be doing a bit of a time skip the next chapter


	9. Chapter 9

The reason this fic is getting an M-rating is because it will talk about dark topics (Not as dark as my fic Two Worlds One Spark... I hope) there will be abuse of many kinds, depression, torture, and various other things. I apologize for the short chapter, but this is a bit of a filler.

Primes (In order of receiving Matrix) :

Prima

Primon

Onyx

Vector

Megatronus

Solus

Alchemist

Amalgamous

Quintus

Micronus

Nexus

Sentinel

Alpha

Time Units (Found on Tf wiki):

Astro-second: .498 seconds

Breem: 8.3 minutes

Cycle: 1.25 hours

Deca-cycle: ~3 weeks

Groon: ~1 hour

Klik: 1.2 minutes

Meta-cycle: 13 months

Orbital cycle: ~1 month

Solar cycle/lunar cycle: 1 day/1 night

Stellar cycle:~7.5 months

Deci-vorn: 8.3 years

Vorn: 83 years

Currency:

1 credit: ~60.25 shanix

1 cred card: 400 credits

Plasma

Hallogenated

Onboard

Targeting

Optical sight

Nodes

* * *

Ch. 9

"And do you promise to do what is necessary to protect not only the people of this planet, but the planet itself from those that mean to harm it?" Alchemist asked a gold mech that looked to be made out of very malleable metal. Between them was the Matrix of Leadership as it was almost studying its next chosen one. The other Primes were standing from their spots and watched the ritual continue.

The mech nodded, "I swear on my spark."

When the Matrix glowed brightly it dropped into the mech's servos meaning it chose the mech to hold its power. Alchemist watched the chest plate open up and placed the artifact in front of his spark. "Your life Alloy has ended and your new life as Prime will begin. Primus will grant you a new name, new identity, and the Matrix will give you a power to help you protect yourself and our planet."

The mech rose into the with his chest at the midpoint. His frame melted while his protoform expanded, becoming lankier, until the melted armor floated back up and wrapped around the new body. The new Prime was slightly taller than Megatronus, but his frame looked like gears of gold and white, his protoform was slightly exposed in his limbs but his torso was fully armored to protect his spark and the Matrix. When the Prime was lowered back down he slowly rose to his peds with his servos clenching as a rejuvenated strength filled his new body.

"Guardian, what will you be going by now?" Onyx asked while the new Prime looked at his frame.

"Amalgamous Prime. I heard a voice telling me what I can do." The new Prime looked at the astrofox that was in Alchemist's seat and pointed at it. "It is quite similar to what your friend can do."

Everyone looked at the creature that leapt over the table and shifted as he joined the two Primes in the middle of the room. "You can shift like I can? But you did not call me out when you help free me from those trappers?"

"Because I know now that it was a test to see if I was worthy." Amalgamous lowered his servo to Meister wanting to shake servos. "I can feel it from the Matrix that you are a good mechanism. It still retains the spark residuals from my new brothers and sister."

Meister had frozen in mid shake when the new protector told him what he was feeling, and he canted his helm with a smile. "Thank you for the kind words Amalgamous." _I will have to come up with a nickname for him._

"Amalgamous, this is Meister. He will be able to help you with anything you need." Alchemist put a servo on the shorter mech's shoulder. "Speaking of Meister, you said you had something to tell us?"

The Polyhexian still had yet to tell the Council about Wicker's request, and it's been a meta-cycle! He looked the Council with a slight frown as he told them. "Wicker wanted me to bring him Megatronus's shield, but I can't do that. You all have been so kind to me, taught me so much on what it means to be a Cybertronian and protect our home, and the thought of hurting any of you feels… wrong."

"You did the right thing in telling us. Tell Wicker that our answer is still no." Alchemist chuckled at the ball bearings the Polyhexian had for trying to send his friend to try and take from them.

"Still? Alchemist, I do not understand. Has Wicker done this before?" Meister frowned deeply with confusion. "If he has attempted this enough times to be fully cognizant that you are aware, why continue trying?"

Prima answered with his servos folded in front of him. "Sometimes bots cannot take no for an answer. For example, Solus is still building that ridiculous requiem blaster after I told her no."

"Oh, come on Prima! Who knows when we'll need it? It's not like anyone is going to shoot me with it!" She looked at her brother before looking down at Meister with a smile. "Meister, dear I have something to show you in my armory. I believe you will like it. And Amalgamous, I will work on creating for you."

Amalgamous smiled thankfully at his new sister. He was going to have to get used to his new family as his old life was now no more. Meister gazed up at his code holder to silently see if he was okay with him leaving. Alchemist pointed at him with a friendly smile and the Polyhexian spoke, "I do not need to ask you for permission unless the question is life threatening."

"Good mech. Will you be home tonight?" He asked, hoping he would as he missed him greatly.

"I will. I apologize for always being absent, Helix has so much to explore." Meister did feel bad for not being around often, but Star and Saber told him to see their Papa Alchemist and assured him they would be okay. He followed the femme to the very bottom of the towers where a whole armory was as well as the forge that Solus had been granted by Primus. "Solus Prime, may I ask why you have brought me here?"

She chuckled before leading him to a table where a large blade sat and then a sniper rifle was propped underneath it. "You may not have a spark, but I believe if you did the Matrix would have chosen you for your loyalty and desire to protect others. That is why I built these for you; the blade I thought I would name after the younglings you had, the Star Saber and the rifle doesn't have a fancy name yet, so I thought you could give it a name and you can have it."

"You would entrust me with a weapon of Prime?" He looked up at her briefly before looking at the black gun. His servo hovered over it and examined it quietly. "Since naming off all of the attachments and then adding sniper rifle is too long and calling it simply a sniper rifle is too boring, I believe I will call it the photon rifle. An acronym for the attachments you added to it."

Solus Prime made an astonished sound before smiling in approval, "photon rifle? Huh, I like it. What do you think of the Star Saber? I have a secret I must tell you, about its power, can I entrust it with you?"

Meister nodded and touched the hilt of the blade before pulling away when it burned him. "It burned me."

"I designed it so only someone it believes is worthy can wield it. Like the Matrix you could say, but that doesn't mean it can't change its mind later in life. This sword is capable of destroying stars. It is dangerous which is why my brothers and I are going to place it in the vault." Solus explained before picking up the blanket that was underneath the Star Saber, hinting that she couldn't wield it either. She gestured for him to follow with a nod of her helm. "Meister, I know I have asked a lot of you, but I have one very important request. You cannot tell any of the other Primes I have asked this of you, not even Alchemist. Can I trust you to keep this promise?"

She took him to a lone podium and placed her servo on the softly glowing scanner. Meister tilted his helm, "not even Alchemist?"

"Not even Alchemist." The femme said as a large portion of the floor opened up in front of them. The hole transformed into stairs with lights lining the steps. They made their descent down. Meister accepted her terms with a nod, "the vault can only be safely opened by a Prime, but as you can imagine that won't stop anyone from trying to enter. I want you to program and make traps how you want to… dissuade outsiders from stealing. Can you handle that?"

Meister looked around as they walked down a narrow walk path. "I can do that. But why do you want me to create a series of traps? Would you not want to do it yourself?"

"Because I trust you to help protect our greatest and dangerous artifacts safe. Even from us." She said before they stopped in front of an empty case and tossed the sword in the anti-grav case. "Thank you for helping me with this task Meister of Iacon."

"Meister of Iacon? I get a Cybertronian name even if I'm not one?" The droid looked up to see her nod with a smile. Meister hugged her with a smile sliding on his lips at her kind gesture. "Thank you for trusting me Solus.'

The femme returned the hug with her helm dipping down slightly, "thank you for giving Alchemist happiness again. Now let us return to our friends."

Alchemist and Meister were refueling in the conservatory while waiting on the results of their latest test. "Meister, why do you want to test your interface protocols? Are you feeling alright?" To say he was shocked would have been an understatement when his friend asked to run tests on his interface array. The Prime had never shown any interest in participating with his friend in that manner of interfacing in any shape way or form. In Alchemist's optics Meister was still naïve and essentially a young creature, and the thought of doing such things with someone like that made his tanks churn.

"Because, I wish to experience and learn about it. All of the studies I read said that more than ninety-five percent of Cybertron's population participates in a variety of mating rituals. From those results only thirty percent of the time a new life is brought into the world." Meister explained before looking at his friend with a tilt of his helm, "did you have a family before you became a Prime?'

The Prime was startled by the question that he choked on his high grade. He started coughing into his fist while Meister rubbed his back in attempt to help him. When Alchemist had his intakes under control once more he gave the stool, that had been previously empty, a couple pats. Once Meister sat down Alchemist tapped on his terminal that showed an emerald green femme reading a datapad to a young femme that was emerald with silver accents. "Her name is Ebony, and I found out she gave her my old name in honor of me. I do not have many regrets as a Prime, but my one regret is that I was given this gift before I could hold my daughter."

"Why can't you see them? How did you tell her? What is your daughter's name?" Meister was full of questions now that he found out this information. He could only assume that this was why he was okay with Star and Saber. "You wanted to have a chance to experience what you miss, that is why you didn't inform anyone of Star and Saber."

Alchemist ex-vented with guilt as he watched his old mate play with their daughter. "I cannot risk anyone using them to get to me. Prima and Primon informed her that I had perished in a bad accident. She mourned and sadly never moved on; I wish she would for not only her sake but also our little Presage."

"Presage, that is a pretty name. This was the sacrifice you had to make in order to be a Prime." Meister watched his code holder turn off the camera, and an idea to make his wish come true sparked an idea in him. Alchemist nodded with a sad smile. "Do you regret it? Becoming a Prime."

The silver mech shook his helm, "no I do not regret it at all. I just wish the world was safer, so I could include my family." Meister hugged Alchemist tightly. He didn't need words to know that his friend needed comfort. The Polyhexian rubbed his friend's back like he did when the femme took the twins from him. After a while, Alchemist pulled away with a shaky ex-vent, "thank you, Meister, I needed that."

"It is my pleasure Alch." A light beeping came from the terminal and they both turned to see what it was. "It would seem the test results are completed."

Alchemist smiled and nodded before turning fully to examine the results. "Let's see what the tests say, shall we?"

* * *

Alchemist's backstory is my idea.


	10. Chapter 10

Hey sorry for the slow update, I was busy with the holiday craziness!

Primes (In order of receiving Matrix) :

Prima

Primon

Onyx

Vector

Megatronus

Solus

Alchemist

Amalgamous

Quintus

Micronus

Nexus

Sentinel

Alpha

Time Units (Found on Tf wiki):

Astro-second: .498 seconds

Breem: 8.3 minutes

Cycle: 1.25 hours

Deca-cycle: ~3 weeks

Groon: ~1 hour

Klik: 1.2 minutes

Meta-cycle: 13 months

Orbital cycle: ~1 month

Solar cycle/lunar cycle: 1 day/1 night

Stellar cycle:~7.5 months

Deci-vorn: 8.3 years

Vorn: 83 years

Currency:

1 credit: ~60.25 shanix

1 cred card: 400 credits

* * *

Ch. 10

_Chains are secured around the ankles, stasis cuffs secured on the wrists, and wings are strapped into the sleeves. What is missing? _Meister circled around his passed out victim. He found Seekers interesting, well all Cybertronians were interesting to him, but Seekers hated other races and yet they will mate with them when their heat cycle starts. And then, their whole coding that forces them to live in trines to balance themselves out. _Oh right, onlining him!_

Meister deactivated the stasis lock and walked away to allow the mech to online on his own. He went over to his table and grabbed the laser blade to examine it. After his first couple victims, Meister had to have someone with him to teach him how to make cleaner cuts as well as to not make a statement unless told otherwise. He knew the Seeker was online by the sounds of panic and the struggling.

"Ya angered a lot of bots Airway. We still have a couple groons before Ah am due, and Ah do need dah practice." Meister crouched next to the Seeker's helm and grabbed the cloth that he had shoved in his mouth. "Are ya tryin' tah call for yer trine mates? Did ya already forget dat Ah said ya angered bots?"

The Seeker stiffened before shaking his helm with muffled pleas. Meister stood up and finally removed the gag. Airway gasped a few times before speaking, "I didn't do anything! You have the wrong mech!"

"Your trine mates gave me a holo-image of you," he held the image of him out for the stunned mech to see. "Why did you kill them Airway? Why did you destroy the eggs?"

"They… they were weak okay?! If I let them hatch, they wouldn't have make it anyways! I was doing Tidalwave a favor by doing it before he bonded to them." Airway started crying. Meister tilted his helm in confusion at the reaction. "I didn't want to do it; you have to believe me! We always wanted a clutch, but my coding told me they wouldn't have lived long. Please, you have to believe me!"

The droid released the chains holding Airway to the ceiling. He sat him upright and grabbed his face to look him in the optics. "I believe you Airway," he saw the relief in his optics, and he continued, "but I still cannot allow you to remain online."

"N-No, please no!" Airway started squirming as Meister reached for his chest plate before he suddenly stopped.

::We change our minds, we'll get him. We'll still pay, please don't kill him.:: One of the trine mates commed Meister with urgency in her voice.

::You wish for me to keep him online?:: Meister looked at the Seeker with his helm tilted with confusion. ::Are you not worried he will kill future creations?::

::We are still bonded to him; we felt and saw everything. Please, here transferred the funds with a ten extra shanix for the problem we caused.:: She had a worried tone in her words as the funds appeared into Meister's account. He looked at the Seeker that looked hopeful in his optics.

::Alright, he will be released.:: The droid disconnected as he removed the restraints from the relieved mech in front of him. Meister looked at Airway with a confused tilt of his helm. "If you went by your instincts then why would your mates want you deactivated?"

Airway rubbed his wrists in hopes of massaging feeling back into them. He sighed with a shake of his helm, "when you are in a bond, especially a trine bond, you have not just your emotions to consider. My trine mate, Radar, was in a bad relationship before we took him in. He lost a lot of creations, so she must have seen my actions as the same as what her ex did. I wouldn't have done it had I had control over my systems, you have to understand that."

Meister knelt in front of the mech and took ahold of his wrists. "I believe you. I apologize for almost offlining you. You may leave after you've gotten feeling in your systems again." The silver mech stood up and started packing up.

"Huh, wha… you…-" The Seeker collapsed after the tranquilizer that Meister had inserted into his wrist took effect. The droid went over to him and deactivated his mod once he was certain that Airway wasn't pretending. Meister took the incentive to take the shape of Vanguard just in case Airway wanted to take legal actions. He finished packing his tools and looked at the Seeker thoughtfully. The AI had a lot to think about in regards of Cybertronians.

"Alchemist was right, Cybertronians are confusing." Meister shook his helm as he left the room he had been holding Airway hostage in. The silver mech commed Wicker to let him know what had happened, and the Mask leader said that happened with estranged lovers. Wicker also made a point to tell him that he was impressed with how well Meister was doing at keeping secrets. The AI told him that keeping secrets from Alchemist felt wrong, but he didn't want the twins taken from him again.

Meister returned to the apartment with the two younglings greeting him with excitement. He had allowed them to play outside with the other younglings as long as they promised to comm Meister every time they left the apartment as well as returned safely. "Meister, look what we got today! The Cybertronian younglings call them suckers." Saber held up the purple item with an energized smile. "Want one? We have a lot!"

"It's energon, how are you consuming it?" The older droid asked after watching the two start placing the treats back into their mouths.

"We took the medicine Papa Alchemist made!" Star held up the small bottle that had been sitting on the counter. Meister shook his helm with a chuckle before kissing the tops of their helms.

The droid took the bag of suckers from them and placed them on the counter, "these will be rewards or occasional snacks. Alchemist will become curious as to why I go through a bottle of capsules at such a rapid rate." They whined in disappointment, but they weren't going to do much about it. Meister lifted them up in his arms and sat them all down on the couch with a happy rev of his engine. "What would you two like to do?"

"Movie!" They both said excitedly with their optics looking up at Meister with a glittering hope. The older droid chuckled at how excitable energies, and the AI didn't want them any other way. "Okay, what movie?"

"I wanna watch the movie with Primus and Unicron!" Star said with excitement.

"No, I want to watch Minibot ballet." Saber pouted at his brother, clearly trying to work him over to his choice. Star shook his helm and then it soon started an argument and they were both crawling over Meister's lap while shouting in each other's face.

Meister pried them apart and moved them to the opposite sides of the couch. The younglings looked shocked from the calm reaction from their caregiver. "You two will stop fighting, we are able to watch both." He saw their frames shaking slightly and that caused confusion in the AI, "what is wrong?"

"You're going to spank us now." Star's optics started watering and Saber hid behind one of the thermal blankets with whimpers.

Meister deactivated his visors to show Star that he wasn't angry. He placed his servo on his chest with a smile. "I will and can never hurt you, either of you. I will always keep you safe from anyone that want to hurt you."

The silver droid was tackled by the twin red and white mechlings that hugged him tightly. "We love you Meister."

"I love you both too." He pulled Saber to the front of him and pulled them into his arms with his helm nuzzling the younglings. "Why don't we watch both of them ?"

The younglings smiled brightly, and they all settled down before they put their servos on Meister's chest. When the siblings were alone they would use the holoscreen and watch movies or television, but when it was al three of them they would just watch from memories. In the middle of the movies Meister's comlink went off. The younglings pulled away from him as he answered the comm.

::Meister, can I speak with you?:: Alchemist sounded off which caused Meister to be concerned that he was caught.

::What's wrong Alch?:: He stood up with this tightening feeling in his chest and the droid remembered this feeling when he saw Gearshaft.

::I just got word from Backdraft that Gearshaft and his companion are coming. I need you to return home before they arrive.:: The mechanism's code holder sounded concerned.

Meister frowned and looked at the staring younglings which made the feeling even worse. ::I will fly over there right now. Wicker had called for my assistance.::

::Alright, I will see you in a bit.:: Alchemist cut the line.

The AI said their quick byes before Meister hurried back to the manor. He was landing in the back when he saw a shuttle pull up to the front door. The silver mech removed his visors and hurriedly went to find Alchemist before the door chimed. Meister took a calming vent before going for the front door and opened it with a forced smile on his face. "Hello Founder Gearshaft, do you have a scheduled meeting with Alchemist Prime?"

"No, but I actually came to have a conversation about you." Gearshaft answered the question while walking through the door past Meister. The AI turned and went to go take them to the lounge, but Gearshaft stopped him with a question. "So, I had noticed that as we were driving here there was something flying around. What was that?"

Meister turned and folded his servos in front of himself with a smile. "That was me, Alchemist Prime had requested me to use the largest form I can shift into and test how long I can keep that form before being forced to shift back."

"Ah, perfect Meister how did the tests go? Have you managed to stay in the air longer than last time?" Alchemist's voice gave the droid so much relief especially when he saw the Prime walking over to them with his flask in his servo. "Hello Gearshaft, what can we do for you?"

The founder of AL smiled and gestured at Meister, "my coding team have noticed that our AA models seem to experiencing some glitches. Have you noticed anything odd with your droid?"

Alchemist looked at Meister with a thoughtful hum, "nothing strange. Meister has been performing at pique condition."

"Well if you don't mind can you run a systems check? My team have noticed that he seems to be running on a loop." Gearshaft gave a look of concern, but Meister knew that AL was aware. Alchemist gave a sound astonishment before looking down at the droid that was staring at Artemis.

"Meister run code blue." The Prime had never used any of the codes before, so it was a learning experience for him. Meister went rigid and his chest plate opened up with his pseudo-spark exposed; they stood there for fifteen kliks before Meister's chest plate closed tightly and his amber optics flashed green.

"All systems are 100% and functional." The silver Polyhexian looked at Alchemist and then at Gearshaft with a smile. He looked at his code holder with a tilt of his helm, "Alchemist Prime, your tank levels have dropped thirty-five percent. Would you like your usual?"

Alchemist shook his helm and gestured for the lounge, "I will be fine but thank you. Why don't we take this meeting somewhere more relaxing? How are you feeling after that flight?"

"I maintained altitude for .3762 nanoseconds longer than the previous time. My reserves are at 77%." Meister answered calmly while they walked to the lounge. The Prime sat on the couch with Gearshaft sat in the sofa adjacent from him. Artemis stood beside his code holder and Meister took his place beside Alchemist.

The Prime looked at the business mech with his posture calm, "can you tell me what exactly these glitches are?"

"Lack of following commands, rusted joints, vocal box glitching. Nothing too major. If your droid starts experiencing any of this, just comm Artificial Life and we can replace it with one of our newer models." Gearshaft said with a professional attitude.

Artemis was staring at Meister, "perhaps unit Meister-Jzz4 should demonstrate his unit's flexibility."

"Oh, perfect idea Artemis! I've seen how beautiful he sings, a demonstration of you dancing would be amazing." Gearshaft clapped his servos together. Meister looked down at his code holder for instructions.

"Do you feel up to it Meister?" The Prime gave the droid beside him a questioning gaze.

Meister had a plastered smile on his face, "AI do not have feelings Alchemist Prime. If you would like me to preform, I can do a dance to put yours and Founder Gearshaft's worries to ease." Alchemist looked around for a place for him to dance, but the silver Polyhexian climbed onto the table. "Oh, good thinking Meister. Do you need any music?"

"Yes please." The AI stood straight until Alchemist played a slow ballad. Meister took his first position and started dancing after the eight count. The space he was dancing on was small, but the droid made it work with a focused smile on his face. After the song ended and Meister moved into the last position, he bowed to his little audience after they clapped after the performance. "Was that to your standards Alchemist Prime, Founder Gearshaft?"

The silver Prime was about to answer, the founder of AL spoke faster, "that was decent Meister, but you looked a little unsteady."

_That's slag, I hit every step perfectly!_ Meister had to hide his clenched servos behind his back as he forced a smile on his face. "My apologies, I have not danced since the Artificial Life training facility located in… firewall hit." _Already plan on telling the Council where you keep us like objects as soon as I get Artemis away from me._

"Gearshaft, enough about my assistant, what can your AI do?" Alchemist asked the mech while helping Meister down. "Here, sit with me."

"Artemis, why don't you demonstrate to our dear Prime what you can do?" The mech smiled smugly at them as Artemis went over to the large holoscreen and placed his servo on the screen. His right servo glowed red and streams zig zagged from his digit tips until the entire screen was red, and when the droid pull his servo away from the electronic it gave a small explosion. Meister looked at Alchemist with a slight worried expression. "When Artemis's mod activated I knew it was too dangerous to just give to anyone in the general public."

Alchemist gave an uncomfortable chuckle as he looked at his now destroyed holoscreen. "I can understand that fear. Meister, take note to get a holoscreen ordered."

"I have four options already for observation, your list has been sent to your terminal." Meister smiled at the Prime before looking behind him and quickly stood up. "Hello, did you have a meeting with Alchemist Prime?"

Standing in the doorway was Wicker and the Polyhexian was confused about the weird reaction. Meister kept his back to Artemis and Gearshaft as he gave some optic gestures which is all the Mask leader needed to play along. "No Ah didn't, but Ah thought my dear friend deserved a friendly visit. Since our lil' project seems tah have hit a bump."

"Oh, our project? Meister, why don't you take Wicker to the conservatory while I finish this meeting up?" Alchemist suggested and the mechanism bowed at the Prime and his 'creator' before guiding Wicker away from them. The droid looked over his shoulder with paranoia that Artemis was going to follow them.

"What are you doing here?" Meister asked as soon as he closed the conservatory doors. He crossed his arms as he looked at the masked mech with irritation.

"Like Ah said, Ah came tah talk tah Alchem 'bout a bump in our lil' secret project. Ah just wasn't expectin' dah mech tah be here playin' ya." Wicker started exploring the space and made a disappointed sound. "Too exposed for my taste."

The silver droid shrugged casually, "I don't mind the sunlight. Do you think I'm excited to have _him_ here forcing Alchemist to order me around?!" He crossed his arms and took several vents before looking at his teacher. "How are they doing?"

"Got Warp watchin' 'em. Don't worry Sparkles, they are in good servos." Wicker assured the mech before the doors opened up to Alchemist walking in with a worried expression on his face. "Place secured?"

Alchemist nodded after shutting the door behind them. The Prime looked at the chip that was in his servo and hooked it up to his portable terminal with a determined look on his face. Meister tilted his helm with a frown at the serious look his friend had. "Gearshaft wanted me to put this into you, as if I trust this one bit. I'm sorry Meister, we both know how much I hate taking your freedom away. Wicker, what can we do for you?"

The Prime plugged the chip into the terminal while the masked mech answered him. "My informant just got a hold of one of dah distribution stores, dah one in Praxus, and it's nasty Alchem. It's like interface traffickin' nasty. Dah droids come in these boxes, and dah drives are droids all collared with nasty micro explosions."

"Micro explosions?" Meister whipped his attention from the terminal to the Mask leader.

"When dah shipment is signed off, their entire frames implode on spot. Meister, ya should count yerself lucky dat ya weren't one of those drivers. Informant said dat AL have inspectors visitin' all of 'em every orbital cycle." Wicker said before looking at the doors and grabbed Meister's wrist to get his attention. "They even said they found some boxes were messed with and some of 'em had dents near their pelvic platin', limbs hangin' by cables, and their chips cracked. AL ain't good at all."

Alchemist stopped what he was doing and stared at the masked mech with a horrified look in his optics. Meister was frozen in place when what Wicker finally set in his processor. The Prime looked at his friend with a concerned expression, "Meister, did they do anything to you? I need you to be honest to me."

The AI looked away with him pinning an arm to his side. "I… was not honest with you when I spoke about my tests. They had me try and shift into… Primus, I was not told why, but I when I tried to explain to them that without a physical source I could not do it. They were not happy with me and stuck me in an isolated server with heavy firewalls." He swiped his neck until the black band appeared, "we cannot take them off. I have tried, it's attached to me by fuel lines. I'm sorry Alch."

"Why would they want you to shift into Primus?" Alchemist looked at him with confusion.

"I don't know, truly I don't Alch." Meister looked at his peds with a sad expression. He looked at the terminal with a curious look, "what is on the data slug?"

The Prime looked at the terminal and started examining the coding but was soon joined by Wicker and Meister looking over his arms. Wicker made a disgusted sound before taking over and started typing rapidly. "Ah've seen dis codin' before. In pleasure bots. Prime, dis is compliance codin' forces absolute obedience in dah hacked bot."

"Compliance coding? Is that why they were here? I don't want my freedom taken from me Alch." Meister stepped away from the terminal as if being near it would somehow transfer the coding to him.

"Meister, calm down my friend, you won't be getting this at all I promise you that. I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't a deadly virus. You _need_ to be careful of Artemis, his mod is more dangerous than yours. Wicker, how did your informant get their job?" The Prime looked at the hacker while pulling the data slug out of the terminal and crushed it on the table. Seeing it being destroyed gave Meister a look of excite and hope at the level of trust Alchemist gave him.

Wicker put a servo on his hip with the other servo in the air as he shrugged. "Just said they do a background check, if ya pass then they are given a location and ya have tah report tah AL every end cycle on sales. They said they get nervous when reps have skills in hackin' and codin', so they lookin' for dumb greedy afts."

"Can we save some?" Meister looked Wicker with plead in his optics. "Can't we save even a few from abusive code holders like… like her?"

Alchemist rubbed the back of his helm, "Meister, I can't just go and purchase one after being visited by Gearshaft. If another of the Council gets one then Artificial Life could become suspicious. Wicker?"

"Could probably try and get one, but ya do know dat Polys ain't trusted by everyone. How we gonna get one in my group?" Wicker questioned, but Meister gave an idea.

"Wick, what about your informant at Torchwood apartments? He seems reliable."

The Mask leader hummed in thought before smiling at the idea. "Nice idea Sparkles! Ah'll let him know Mask will be makin' a generous donation for him. My informant will find one dat looks like they need tah get out. Ah gotta head back and let Mask know what's dah DL. Peace."

Wicker left the Prime and droid in the conservatory. Meister sat on the stool with his arms folded in his lap. Alchemist leaned his servo against the table and looked at his friend trying to read him. "Meister, what are you thinking about? I'm sorry I can't help you; you know I would if I could."

"I wasn't ready to tell you before, but I remember one of my recodings. The reason I was recoded was because I asked why we couldn't be in our shells." The AI's frame started rippling while his leg bounced nervously. "At the time I was called Aura."

"Aura? That's what Maccadam said when we took you to get fixed." The Prime saw how guilty his friend looked when the Prime made the connection. "When you were Aura, did you have the same mod?"

"No, they change when our coding and shells change. Aura could see spark resonances. I don't remember anything from the life or if I even had a code holder as Aura, but I'm not Aura anymore, I am Meister and that is who I will always be no matter who I shift into." Meister looked at his friend with a smile. "I suppose Primes and AI have something in common."

The Prime chuckled and gave his back a light pat, "I suppose this would make you an honorary Prime."

"Solus said something similar to me, she said that if I was Cybertronian that she believes that the Matrix would have chosen me. I do not believe it would have chosen me; I can feel that even if I were real it still would not have chosen me to protect it. Just like Vector says, 'Primus has a plan for everyone'. My plans are to help you stop Artificial Life from doing anything worse."

Alchemist smiled and gave his shoulder a firm shake, "perhaps AL will be crumbling to the ground before my time." The AI returned the smile with a grateful hug. The AI was so thrilled to have a friend like Alchemist. "Meister, there's an event going on in a few solar cycles at Prima's home and I would greatly appreciate the company."

"What sort of event? Will I have to be entertainment again?" The silver droid questioned his friend.

"A ball and no you don't have to worry about that." Alchemist assured the smaller mechanism.

Meister made a thoughtful hum as to what to do; he told the younglings that he was going to take them out exploring the parks in Praxus, but he also knew that Alchemist would love to have a friend to keep him on the straight and narrow with the high grade. "Can I think about it and give my answer tomorrow?"

"Of course, Meister, would you like to have some energon and oil cake with me?" The Prime suggested with a friendly tone which made the silver Polyhexian nod excitedly. The two were leaving the conservatory with their attention focused on the cake and energon, that they missed the amber optics looking down from the ceiling.

* * *

Okay readers comment down below either 1 or 2 for what the next chapter should be.

Meister's dance performance: Sophia Lucia - Pointe Solo - DancerPalooza Beat Squad Performance 2016

1: Meister spends the day with Alchemist and experiences some bad things

2: Meister takes the twins out for some fun and meets his first romantic interest.


	11. Chapter 11

Hey sorry for the slow update, I was busy with the holiday craziness! Merry late Hanukwanzmas (Hanukkah Kwanzaa, Christmas) Predacon Prime Prototype insignia.

Primes (In order of receiving Matrix) :

Prima

Primon

Onyx

Vector

Megatronus

Solus

Alchemist

Amalgamous

Quintus

Micronus

Nexus

Sentinel

Alpha

Time Units (Found on Tf wiki):

Astro-second: .498 seconds

Breem: 8.3 minutes

Cycle: 1.25 hours

Deca-cycle: ~3 weeks

Groon: ~1 hour

Klik: 1.2 minutes

Meta-cycle: 13 months

Orbital cycle: ~1 month

Solar cycle/lunar cycle: 1 day/1 night

Stellar cycle:~7.5 months

Deci-vorn: 8.3 years

Vorn: 83 years

Currency:

1 credit: ~60.25 shanix

1 cred card: 400 credits

* * *

Ch. 11

Star and Saber were bouncing with excitement in Meister's arms as the sight of the park was getting closer. They were so excited when their guardian came in to tell them that they were going to play in a youngling park over in Nova Cronum. Meister lowered them down when the park started coming into view. There were several structures scattered around that had slides, poles, bridges, bars, block puzzles, and various types of ladders. Away from the structures were a few swing sets, a merry-go-round, a few swing bars, and then a single pole with a ball attached to a thin chain.

The Polyhexian and the younglings stopped at one of the tables near a hill, "okay remember the rules?"

"No talking to strangers, stay in sight, don't use our mods," Saber said with his servos going behind his back with a proud smile on his face.

Star added the rest of the rules, "and we can't tell anyone that you're like us. You're our sitter while our creators work."

Meister nodded with a smile as he added some small black spurs on his elbows and knees. He gave them a big hug and quick kisses on their helms before letting the two run off. The pair cheered and ran for the swings and took turns pushing each other. The Polyhexian was sitting under a shaded area with a smile on his face. Meister knew that they needed time outside of the apartment and away from Helix, and he hadn't visited Nova Cronum before. He had his visors on, so he didn't need to worry about changing his optics. The older AI had a lot to think about, especially when Alchemist gave him the news in regards of his interface array. Everything would in theory work, except when they input they coding they purposefully left out the heating protocols, so he couldn't get properly sparked. Meister didn't know how to feel about the news, but from how Alchemist reacted he thought he was supposed to be sad.

The Polyhexian snapped out of his thoughts when he saw a strange white mech with six orange-red biolights wrapping around his midsection, deep yellow optics, and fairly thick armor walked up the hill to him. He caught sight of Star and Saber stop their playing when he stood up, but he gestured for them to continue playing. The strange mech looked over to see the younglings that he was gesturing to and looked back at Meister with a smile on his face. "Oh good, was 'fraid ya were some creep watchin' little sparks playing. They yours?"

"No, I'm their sitter. And what do you mean by creep? Is it not okay to watch younglings play?" Meister questioned as the mech got closer to him. He crossed his arms with a defensive stance.

The unknown mech bellowed in laughter at what Meister wasn't able to guess. "Usually the adults are a lot closer just incase something happens. 'Creeps' are matured bots that like to do… adult things to younglings. Where have you been? In a lab?" He laughed and Meister only pressed his lips tightly. "That was a joke. I'm Casper of Nova Cronum." The mech held his large servo out and Meister took not of the scuff marks on the servo held out in front of him.

_That is the servo of a killer. Is he part of a group like the Mask?_ Meister's servo was smaller in this Casper's, it was ridiculously hilarious compared to shaking servos with Alchemist, Onyx, Amalgamous, or Megatronus. "I am Meister of Iacon. Your servo is scuffed, did you experience road burn?"

Casper looked down at his large servo and then at Meister with proud smirk. "Well being a bounty hunter for eleven deci-vorns will do that to you. And what do you do or is sparkling sitting a full time job?" He put his servos on his wide hips and that's about the same time that Meister saw the strange object on his left forearm and then the blaster on his left thigh.

"You brought weapons to a park? And my occupation is… classified." Meister didn't know if he could trust this mech, especially when he had never seen a bounty hunter before. He wanted to ask him questions, but that would give him away and he didn't want that in the slightest.

"This is the route I take to get home and I had seen you off in the distance." Casper continued to be friendly to Meister which the droid found weird for some reason. "So, you're from Iacon what brings ya to my neck of the cyber forest?"

Before Meister could answer the question both Star and Saber came running over to Meister with their arms wrapping around his legs. "What's wrong, why are you both crying?" He knelt down and pressed his servos on their backs to look at them. His visors rippled red when he saw the small scuff under Star's optic. "What happened?"

"They didn't want us playing and they went to hit Saber." Star didn't cry, but Meister knew he was upset.

Saber rubbed his optics, "I wanna go home."

The silver mech looked at the swing set that they had been playing and his visors started staying red, but then he remembered what Alchemist said and he calmed himself down. "Okay we'll go home," he looked at Casper as he picked up the younglings. "Please forget you ever saw us."

"Huh wha-"

Meister quickly walked away with Star and Saber in his arms. He deactivated his mod and took them for a walk with an upset expression on his face. Star and Saber looked up at their caretaker with concerned looks in their optics. The younger AI patted Meister on the chest, getting his attention. "Are you mad at us?"

Hearing the question caused him to come to a complete stop and look down at them with a stunned expression in his optics that were hidden behind his visors. "I'm not mad at you, either of you. I'm upset that younglings would hurt others just because of you being different. There is _nothing _wrong with either of you or any of us; you got that? We are perfectly fine the way we are."

"Even though you change the way you look?" Star hit Meister with a low blow question.

"I do it to avoid getting Alch in trouble. I'm happy with who I am." The silver mech smiled with his helm gently tapping on the tops of their smaller helms. "Let's go back home and we can watch movies. How's that sound?"

The two younglings squealed and nodded with claps of their servos. They walked all the way from Nova Cronum to Helix; well walked until the reached the border of Nova Cronum then Meister turned into a Predacon, and they flew the rest of the way to their apartment. The Polyhexian carried them inside and in the berth when they had fallen into stasis half way up the stairs. He laid down beside Saber and wrapped both of them in his arms. He was thinking about that strange Cybertronian that was oddly interested in his life.

It was coming up to the party and Alchemist and Meister were busying themselves with finishing up work, and the newest Prime was often turning to Meister to help teach him how to use his new ability. The AI was kneeling in front of a statue of Primus, taking notes of what he had learned about the Cybertronians and then to also learn why everyone looked up to someone that had no physical appearance. "And yet here I am often talking to you for help in oddly difficult situations. It is too bad that you are not real enough to give me any actual answers."

"Primus may not be able to answer your questions, but I can certainly try." Alchemist joined his friend on the ground, getting the Polyhexian to smile cheerfully while they looked up at the statue. "What questions does my pupil have brewing in his processor now?"

The AI crossed his legs while holding onto his ankle struts. "How do Cybertronians know when they have found their conjux endura?"

"Well, we feel it in our sparks. Like two magnets their sparks will call each other to be close. They'll wish to spend every moment with each other, and they love each other no matter what flaw the other has." Alchemist smiled before giving him a questioning gaze, "why do you wish to know?"

The Polyhexian looked at the datapad in his servos and then up at the statue interpretation of Primus. "It's just the way you looked at your family when you told me about them, you looked happy. And it's not the same kind of happy that Tronus feels when fighting or Onyx when he his with his beasts. It's like… the same feeling I believe I felt when Star and Saber were with us."

"Love has many meanings to it, but they all depicted it. For example, what you and I experience with my mate and my sparkling, and Star and Saber is familial love. And I must admit that I have grown accustomed to loving you as not just a friend but as a creation." The Prime admitted his friend before pointing up at the statue. "Sometimes Primus will guide us to the answer we need to hear rather than the ones we want to hear."

Meister didn't understand what he meant, but he knew the meaning will be revealed when something happens. "Alch, do you think I'll ever experience something like you did with your mate? Find someone I want to be with for as long as I'm online?"

"Perhaps, Primus works in mysterious ways." The Prime gave him a pat on the back, "were you _wanting_ to find a romantic partner?"

"I'm not sure. I just wish to get personal experience of what it's like to be a Cybertronian." Meister looked at him with a smile on his lips. The AI was genuine with his answer, he wasn't sure if he was genuinely interested in having a relationship like Alchemist had with his mate, but he did want to experience what the Cybertronians seem to take advantage of. "What if I did meet someone that I wished to spend my time with besides you? Would you be upset if I did? Should I give them the master file?"

The Prime quickly corrected his friend, "no don't do that Meister. I don't want you risking your freewill by giving it to someone. Not unless you trust them with your very being. If you find someone you trust and like and wish to spend time with, then I certainly hope you'll honor me the chance to meet him or her."

"You would want to meet them? Is this something Cybertronians do?" Meister asked with his interest piqued. The Prime nodded to both questions.

"When you find someone to be your conjux endura, it's polite to meet each other's families because you're going to be seeing them for a long while." Alchemist smiled with his servo landing on the back of Meister's helm, and the Polyhexian shifted into his cyberwolf form and was rewarded with Alchemist's large digits scratching his helm. "You certainly enjoy this form, don't you?"

Meister nodded with a small huff, "it's relaxing, and it looks more sociably acceptable to pet a mechanimal and not a mech." He leaned against the larger frame with his tail wagging behind him. Alchemist saw the appendage moving excitedly which amused him and he continued petting the silver faux cyberwolf. The Prime watched his servo run through the metallic silver coat, admiring how it was surprisingly softer than he had imagined. "Have you been spending time with Onyx's pack?"

"The last I went to his property near Dark Mount was when the moons were full. Being with them were fun, now I understand why your brother admires the creatures. I know I'm not really a cyberwolf, Onyx knows this, and I believe the pack knows I'm not real, but they accept me. Just like how you accepted me for who I am." He finally shifted back so he could hug his friend as tight as he could. "Thank you so much for letting me find myself."

"You don't need to thank me my friend. You deserve just as much freedom as the rest of us." The older mech helped his friend onto his peds and they went back inside once again missing the yellowish optics spying on them from a pair of binoculars in the distance.

The time came for the party and Meister was standing beside Alchemist reluctantly forced to not wear his visors. He felt exposed now that he had his visors off which meant he couldn't socialize like he wanted, but that didn't mean he couldn't obtain any information for the Council or Mask. The mechanism looked around at how extravagant Prima's home, it looked a lot more lived in that Alchemist's. Alchemist let Meister chat his comms off as to avoid boredom and to satisfy his intense hunger for knowledge. There were lots of droids being brought into the Prime's home, but they were forced to tend to their code holders.

::And Cybertronian nobility expect the council to have parties for every new spark? That is ridiculous and expensive.:: Meister was in a state of disbelief at how crazy these Cybertronians were. He watched the happy new creators being fawned over some of the guests.

::I agree but being praised by a Prime is like having Primus in your home.:: He told him with a chuckle. The AI nodded and held onto Alchemist's modified high grade while watching his friend try some of the treats that were on the table beside them. ::Would you like to refuel?::

The Polyhexian shook his helm with a smile before he heard the sounds of a heavy steps across the room. He looked up and saw the mech from the park chatting it up with one of the lords. The AI saw that the mech looked very confused with something which caused him to be confused with the reaction. ::Alch, why does that mech look about as confused as a warrior trying to weld a stab wound?:: Alchemist looked at the mech that was looking around with his optics wide. The Prime didn't personally recognize the white mech, but he certainly recognized the black insignia that was a helmet with several small black spikes coming off the tops and a large horn in the center of the helm.

::I do not know, but that insignia tells me he's a bounty hunter. They sometimes are out of the loop because of their job. Would you like to go talk to him?:: The Prime asked and was answered with a Meister's helm shaking furiously. Alchemist was confused by his friend's response but respected it and let the conversation drop. He noticed that Meister was getting antsy and was trying to hide himself away when the bounty hunter landed on them. "Meister?"

The bounty hunter walked over to the pair when Meister was hiding partially behind Alchemist's arms with his helm tilted down. "Well hello again, you're certainly a lot shier than when I met ya. How are those younglings after that scuffle they were in?"

"Younglings? Meister, you met this mech before?" Alchemist looked down at his nervous friend. Meister was shifting from one ped to the other and crossed and uncrossed his arms. "Meister, look at me."

The droid reluctantly looked up at his code holder. ::Wicker wanted me to watch a pair of younglings cause they were being targeted by some bad Cybertronians.:: He refused to look up at the white mech that was frowning at his reaction. "And the younglings are fine now that they back in the safehouse."

"Oh, that's good. I'm sorry if I'm a bit awkward, I apparently missed a lot while off world. Who da thunk that some Cybertronian would make droids that look like us. Crazy." He tried to joke until he saw Meister finally look up at him with their optics locked now that Meister didn't have his visors. "Oh? Oh! You're one of them. I had no idea, you were so-"

Alchemist put a servo on his chest, actively getting his attention, "I'm sorry,"

"Casper." He finally introduced himself.

"Right, Casper, but we would like Meister's sentience a secret. It is imperative that the public or the company that supposedly built his kind do not find out." Alchemist spoke softly while Meister was trying hard not to draw attention to himself. He put his servo on Meister's back. "You're okay Meister, relax. Do you need to be alone to calm down?"

Casper looked down at Meister and saw how anxious he was being. The AI looked back up and their optics locked again. "Well I mean our optics look very similar, so no judgement from me." Hearing that the AI flashed a smile, "well it was nice talking to you again, but I gotta skip this high end town and find some more jobs. Maybe we'll run into each other again."

"Run into each other again? We haven't run into each other before." He looked at him with confusion. Casper shook his helm with an amused chuckle just like Alchemist. The Prime explained to his friend what Casper had meant and the AI understood the saying. "Well I hope to see you again soon. Especially when I am able to be what I believe is myself."

"Oh Primus, I didn't know the Council had an AI too!" A young adult femme grabbed Meister's arm and brought him closer to her face. "How much do you want for it? My stupid creators got me this old house model when I wanted a model like this."

Meister played his silent shadow well while Alchemist pulled him behind his frame. "Fortunately, he isn't for sale. Meister is my personal assistant and would be far too advance for your inept… processor. Meister, why don't you go take our new friend on that private tour of Prima's back gardens like we had discussed earlier." The Prime hinted and the droid bowed his helm.

"I will ensure Casper of Nova Cronum has a pleasant experience." He gestured for Casper to follow him and the white mech followed with his gaze occasionally going to the Prime that was currently being bothered by the femme's creators. Meister didn't say anything until they made it outside and away from the crowd. "I wish I could have my visors."

"Then why not wear them? And is that normal, to be talked to like you were some furniture or something?" The bounty hunter lowered himself slightly to be Meister's level. He saw how the AI refused to look at him now. "I may hunt down criminals and such, but I'm not a bad mech."

The droid looked at Casper with a bit of wariness in his stance. He looked around before answering the innocent questions. "Bots think it's weird that Alchemist has an AI and treat me like your kind. He's seen me as a Cybertronian since I was brought online, even before I allowed myself to trust him to be myself. As for the rest of the planet treating my kind like items, it's sadly normal. Our optics, are so similar, which I find it odd." Meister lowered Casper down to his level forcefully, putting his servo on the heavily armored chest.

"What are you doing?" He stuttered slightly when the AI looked very closely into his optics. The droid pulled away with a sound of disbelief.

"You are not like me. I thought only mechanimals had optic filters like my kind?" Meister looked up at Casper with his arms crossing over his chest.

"Well I'm part Predacon. Our optics are naturally this color." He pointed at the droid's frame. "So, what happened to your frame? It's not all sparkly and rippling like before."

The question caught the faux Polyhexian off guard. He looked away, "My code holder has frowned upon me answering to my questions in regards to my modification chip." Meister held an arm to his side with a bow of his helm. The droid led Casper through the garden and explained all of the cyber-organic plants and some spliced crystals that the Prime had collected over his lifetime.

"Modification chip? Did the big mech himself put it in you?" Casper looked at the droid, trying to get more from the mechanism just how it… he carried himself… itself. "How identical _are you_ to us as a race?"

The AI shook his helm, "no Alch didn't put the mod in me. All AI droids are installed with modifications by Artificial Life. Our shells have every physical indication of a Cybertronian, excluding a spark and ability to reproduce." Meister covered his mouth with his optics unfocusing as his frame started to ripple. "I-I… I need to go."

Meister knew he shouldn't have but he shifted into his technohawk form and took off rapidly. He flew for the roof of Prima's mansion and shifted back once he made it on a crook in the roof. The Polyhexian folded his arms with his frame rippling as he thought about how upset Alchemist would be when he found out about him using his ability in front of someone he didn't know. Meister covered his face with a deep groan of self-annoyance. He heard the sounds of wings flapping which confused him and he turned around to see a strange looking Predacon landing behind him. This creature's body was shorter height wise, the tail had sharper tail spikes than normal, the claws on the front paws were longer and sharper, and the creature was lacking spinal dorsal fins. It transformed into Casper which startled Meister.

"See, I can fly too. Why did you flee? Was it something I asked? You really don't like Cybertronians do you?" He sat down beside the staring AI, he groaned as rested his arms on his knees. "Don't blame ya, don't like Cybertronians much myself. They can be awfully annoying sometimes."

"When I get asked a question about my systems or about Artificial Life, I am forced to answer the questions as clearly as I can possibly can. I don't like not being able to answer _what I want_. You were asking questions that made me feel… uncomfortable. As for my feelings towards your kind, it is strangely varied. I enjoying spending time with Alchemist and the rest of the Council and a group in Helix, but there a few Cybertronians that I do not like being around." He looked at Casper with a confused look in his optics, "why are you so invested in being around a piece of equipment?"

Casper tilted his helm with a matching expression, "piece of equipment? Ain't that a bit of self-verbal abuse to say that about yourself? And I find you interesting."

The mechanism repositioned himself to look at the bounty hunter, "interesting in what way?"

"Someone I'd like to have more spark to spark conversations with you." The bounty hunter spoke smoothly with his left wrist extended out to Meister. The AI cautiously put his servo on the wrist and took the white mech's comlink frequency.

"You do know that my kind do not have sparks, right? So, how could we have a spark to spark conversation?" Meister looked at him with a frown. The mech started laughing with a shake of his helm. Seeing the action caused the faux Polyhexian to rethink what Casper had said. "Oh, it's an expression. You didn't actually mean your spark. Can I trust you?"

"Can I trust you to not go all freaky on me and stab me in the back?" He returned the question with a playful question.

Meister finally smiled with a small chuckle, "unless you threaten me or Alchemist, you are safe."

Casper laughed with playful punch on Meister's shoulder, "you are a strange mech, but I like it. I'll see you next time, there are bounties calling for me. Good lunar cycle." He stood up and stepped away from the staring mechanism. "I'll be seeing you some other time." Meister watched him walk off the edge of the roof, and then the bounty hunter was replaced by the Predacon that flew off towards Stanix. The AI continued to stare up at the direction that the strange Cybertronian flew off too.

* * *

I'm still alive.


	12. Chapter 12

Whatcha guys think of Casper?

Primes (In order of receiving Matrix) :

Prima

Primon

Onyx

Vector

Megatronus

Solus

Alchemist

Amalgamous

Quintus

Micronus

Nexus

Sentinel

Alpha

Time Units (Found on Tf wiki):

Astro-second: .498 seconds

Breem: 8.3 minutes

Cycle: 1.25 hours

Deca-cycle: ~3 weeks

Groon: ~1 hour

Klik: 1.2 minutes

Meta-cycle: 13 months

Orbital cycle: ~1 month

Solar cycle/lunar cycle: 1 day/1 night

Stellar cycle:~7.5 months

Deci-vorn: 8.3 years

Vorn: 83 years

Currency:

1 credit: ~60.25 shanix

1 cred card: 400 credits

* * *

Ch. 12

"And that is the last of them, thank you for the help Meister. I know the orphans will appreciate these once they arrive. Well the courier won't be by for few groons, why don't we go for a walk, you've been cooped up for so many solar cycles since you hurt yourself." Alchemist took the still healing arm that was in the sling to examine the weld marks. He felt terrible for letting his friend to commit to complete their test on his stamina in keeping his shift. The Polyhexian looked down at his arm and then back up at his code holder with a smile.

"I'm fine Alch, it just sucks slag cause I can't shift without hurting. I'm glad that you didn't take that medic's advice on taking me to AL for repairs, they would most likely want to do extensive repairs or most likely take me back to Gearshaft." Meister chuckled and held a datapad in his still good arm. Alchemist started loading up the items in the trailer while Meister was checking everything that the Prime was loading up.

"Alch, how come you are the only council member to want to do donations for the orphanages? The others care about the youth, but they haven't helped with many events to raise credits for them." The mechanism questioned.

Alchemist grunted as he heaved one of the large boxes into the trailer. He dusted off his servos before looking at his charge with a smile. "Well I have more of a personal reason for wanting to help the young sparks." The Prime put his servo on the droid's shoulder and smiled softly. "Meister, remember that there is always going to be evil in the world, but you can fight that by being charitable and help those that need it. Understand?"

"Even to those that are evil and have hurt innocents?" Meister asked while extending the datapad to the larger mech.

"Remember what I told you, it's very hard to determine what to do when it comes to fully upgraded Cybertronians. Remember when Solus asked you what you would do if a mech and a femme committed the same crime?" The Prime asked.

The silver mech nodded and spoke with that matter of fact tone, "I said I would shoot them both. Does that make me evil?"

"No, it just means you saw just what information you were presented and responded as such." They closed up the trailer with Alchemist continuing, "let's theoretically add some information to give you a more realistic view. Let's say the femme didn't shoot her family but found them already deactivated and was framed. And the mech had an aggressive glitch and shot them because of it. What would you do?"

Meister took in the theoretical information and thought of what to do. "If the femme was framed, then she would have her justice and get the care she would need. As for the mech he would be placed in a mental hospital."

"This is why it's important to collect as much if not all the information you can before making judgment. Bots can lie, but evidence never does, which is why we are collecting as much as we possibly can before bringing Artificial Life to justice." Alchemist locked up the trailer and the pair went back inside to fuel after spending five groons packing and loading the trailer full. "So, I've been thinking my friend, your card where you're stored do you know anything about it. Like why are the prongs digging into it?"

"I-I am actually not sure; nothing is showing up in my databanks on the origins of that our cases. And there are no firewalls firing up, which is sending red flags to my core." Meister sat on the sofa beside Alchemist and looked at his arm in thought. "Alch, if we were able to install parts that Cybertronians have, would that help medics be more willing to repair me?"

The Prime hummed in thought of the possibility, "hmm I don't see why not. Though usually to get parts like those you'd have to see specialists. Though… then again we could build them ourselves, we would have to be very discreet about it. We'll wait for that arm welds to settle before attempting anything."

"Sounds good to me." Meister looked down at his lap in thought before he looked back at Alchemist, "Alch, I have figured out what I want to learn on my own. Without downloading the information from a data slug."

"Oh?" The larger silver mech was instantly interested with what his friend had in mind.

"I was thinking maybe learning how to do some basic repairs. That way I don't have to go to medics when I accidently unshift in midair and break my arm." Meister teased himself. He folded both of his legs on the sofa with a smile as he removed his visors to look Alchemist with his optics. "What do you think?"

The Prime made a sound of astonishment as if surprised by what he had said. Alchemist adjusted in his seat with his large servos folded in his lap. "Honestly? I'm surprised that you want to learn, but if you want to learn we can see about getting you some medical datapads for you to study from."

Meister's optics glowed brightly as he bounced a little in his spot, "really!? You'd help me?"

"Well of course! There's nothing wrong with expanding your horizon! With what you've been learning from Wicker and the rest of the Council, along with myself, you'll be able to be anything you could possibly want. Especially when we take down AL and we free your people."

The droid smiled at the encouragement from his code holder. "I hope to be functioning when that time comes. If we fight for my kind's rights, I want to fight for Megatronus's people's rights also. They deserve just more freedom than my kind."

"Meister," Alchemist started with a concerning tone before it softened into a smile, "never lose your kindness. You are far too sweet for this world."

Meister sat up straighter with a determined look, his systems wanted to register that as a command, but he forced himself not too. "I'll try to not let Wicker's influence corrupt me." The pair laughed before Alchemist complimented his friend at the joke.

Later in the solar cycle, Meister was helping Megatronus and Onyx with cleaning the Prime Towers, well with as much as he could with one arm. He watched the beast master load different items from his office and placed them into crates. Both of them told the droid that they all cleaned out their personal offices sometimes to make room, especially when it came to documents. They would go through old documents such as cases and history, and if it was something that was suitable for public optic they would give it all to the data clerk and archivists.

"Megatronus, this datapad talks about future plans for something called Guardians. Is this vault or data clerks?" Meister was sitting on the floor with datapads around him and separated piles of the pads.

"Guardians? Uh, what's the first few lines? We have the Sigma guardians and then the titan guardians." The Kaonion was at his desk while organizing his personal things.

Meister looked at the datapad and sat up straighter as he started reading the pad, "the Guardian robots will be built to enact the peace all across Cybertron, given the duty to protect various cities. The first one to be given a Guardian, will be Crystal City."

"Oh, that mess was brought up by Onyx. He wanted to leave giant drones in charge of protecting our cities, but without sparks they were impossible to follow the whole 'protect your city and don't kill the citizens or visitors' programming." Megatronus sat a full box on the ground next to his peds. He picked up another empty box and started packing more things.

The droid instantly perked up, standing up with a happy look in his optics. "I don't have a spark and it's clear that I have that sense of morality, maybe I can help with programming if the Council approves. From the sounds of this request, the Guardians would be helpful in protecting Cybertron."

"I'll talk to the others about it." The Prime spoke bluntly, dismissing what the droid said.

"Megatronus? Can I ask what you gave up in order to be a Prime? I know you don't like me, or rather my kind, because of what Prima and Primon said about giving us citizenship. But, you are a good friend and have taught me a lot in the regards of fighting." The silver droid stood in front of the slightly stunned mech with a genuine smile on his face.

The Prime stood there with his arms crossed over his chest, "if you _must _know what I gave up to be a Prime, it was the ability to leave Cybertron. Iacon specifically."

"You can't leave? That is so sad. I-" Meister stopped talking and turned around with him shifting into his cyberwolf form, growling as he stalked near the open door. Megatronus grabbed his shield and sword, following behind the droid that soon pounced on top of shouting mech. The Prime didn't recognize the mech, but he clearly looked lost and frightened especially when Meister got right in his face.

"Who are you?" Megatronus stood over the mech while pulling Meister away. "Down, you crazy bolt head. Furthermore, how did you get through the doors?"

Meister settled down and backed away while still growling softly. The Prime helped the mech up and dusted off the light gray and gold mech. The mech was picking up the datapads that were scattered across the floor. Once he collected his items he finally answered, "my name is Shockwave, Senator Shockwave of Kaon, I came to speak with the council about Kaon's situation."

The droid looked up at Megatronus with a questioning tilt of his helm. He had never met a senator before, but he was fully aware of Alchemist's schedule and a meeting wasn't on his schedule. Apparently Megatronus agreed with the droid's confusion. "I was not aware of a meeting with you." He looked down at the mechanism, "Onyx is still here go get him."

Giving him a look of disapproval look before bounding off to find the other Prime. When he found the beast master tending to the newest Predacon hatchling in his office. Meister shifted back and was happily greeted by the hatchling gliding into his open arms. "Meister, what brings you here?"

"There is a mech claiming to be a senator and has a meeting set with the council." The silver mechanism sat the small Predacon down when the giant closed the space between them, holding his arm out for the small creature. "He said his name is Senator Shockwave, though I don't remember Alchemist having a council meeting with this mech. Should-"

The Prime interrupted him with a questioning almost concerned look. "This is certainly worrisome." He sat the Predacon onto a perch near the window and the pair walked back to where Megatronus was 'patiently' waiting with the senator. Meister looked at the two Primes curiously as to what he was supposed to do, luckily Onyx guided him. "Meister, why don't you head back to Alchemist's? We can handle this."

"Alright Onyx Prime. Would you like me to get Alche-"

"No!" Onyx spoke with a tone the droid never heard from him before and it was clear from his shocked expression. The black mech quickly pulled himself together, "no Meister, we can handle this. Our brother is busy with that donation to the orphanage. There was clearly a bit of miscommunication."

The silver droid simply nodded, "understood," and left.

Solar cycles passed and Meister was testing out his now functioning arm by turning into a cyberwolf, and sprinted through the Plurex Flats with a calming feeling running through his systems. He was originally going to go see the brothers, but they told him to take his time because they had a surprise for him. He was unsure what two youngling droids could do to surprise him, but he would give them two groons before heading back to Helix to see what happened. The Polyhexian droid was coming to a stop and his audio receptors flickered around when something in the far distance caught his attention. Meister shifted back and slipped his visors over his optics, and looked around with confusion as to what was setting him off.

"I must be imagining things," he shook his helm and shifted into his Predacon form and flew off to the apartment to see what Star and Saber were doing. Meister shifted behind the building before rushing upstairs with excitement on seeing the younglings. He opened the door and locked it, "Star, Saber I'm ba-"

Meister froze with his servo tightening around the lock when he saw the bounty hunter holding Star and Saber on his lap. The two looked up and smiled excitedly, "Meister, look he has a picture of Papa Alchemist and you!" The droid started to get that feeling that he had felt when that glitch, a word he had learned from Turbolight, stole them from him. He slowly took his visors off and sat them on the shelf next to the door, while keeping his optics on the white mech. Star saw the lack of excitement on his caretaker's face which put a frown on his own. "He said you were friends, like that Polyhexian that stays with us when you're not here. Are you mad at us Meister?"

Hearing this snapped the silver mechanism out of his thoughts, "what? No, I am not mad at either of you. Though I wish you had not answered the door. Star, go take your brother to the room while my _friend_ and I converse?"

"Oh, but I think they should stay here. I mean, I'm not hurting the bits." Casper held the younglings with his arms which triggered the droid. "Can I say the same about you?"

"Let them go, you are not fully cognizant of the situation." Meister spoke deeply, his systems were screaming at him that his charges were in danger, but he refrained from doing anything to hurt them. No one moved until Casper released his hold and the younglings quickly went for the berthroom. When the door clicked, Meister quickly got in Casper's face with his blade going to his neck just as the bounty hunter did the same. "How did you find this place? Aren't bounty hunters supposed to go after Cybertronians that broke the law?"

"You aren't exactly that hard to miss. Though I was a bit shocked that it wasn't your master." Casper leaned in closer as his optics glowed almost an orange color. Meister clenched his jaw and pressed the blade against the mech's neck cables until he got a tiny reaction from the small nick. "What? Don't like that word? You are just a piece of equipment after all. You just think you have emotions like us, but you don't, I mean who if one of you were to be taken apart you wouldn't really care."

Meister growled and shifted his left arm into a blade, getting reading to attack but Casper threw him across the room. Meister shifted into and growled deeply as he stood protectively in front of the room. Casper pulled out his small handgun out and aimed it at the wolf that was getting ready to attack. Saber barreled out of the room and hugged his caretaker tightly as he shouted. "Stop hurting him! Meister is our Carrier and Papa Alchemist is going to hate you forever! You're just like our code holders; stop being mean to us!"

The droid shifted back and hugged the younger droid closer to his frame, "Saber, I do not care what happens to this shell. If I must be deactivated to see you safe, then it's what Primus had planned for me." Casper lowered his blaster down slowly, but he was ready to take out his target just in case he, it, whatever moved.

Saber shook his helm as he started crying, "no! You promised that Papa Alchemist and the Council would save us from Artificial Life."

Star joined his brother and hugged Meister as he frowned up at Casper. "What did Meister and Papa Alchemist do to make you mad?"

"Oh, I'm not mad. I just came here to kill the sparkling nappers, just didn't realize it was a Prime and his toy." Casper shrugged and pointed his handgun at Meister's helm. "Now you two come here so I can take-"

"No! She's hurt us and wants to recode us. Go away meanie, you're not a good mech." Star held onto their caretaker with a glare up at the stunned white mech. Meister stood up and held the younglings to his frame, nuzzling them both with happiness on all of their faces. He looked at Casper with a frown replacing his smile.

Meister shook his helm and bit his lip nervously as he took a step forward to the mech. Casper took a step back while Meister's optics turned blue and hugged them before stepping another closer. "If you are uncomfortable with how I look, then I'll use my mod to make it more comfortable. Can I at least show you the truth before you make judgement on whether or not I should be killed?"

"Why not, not like I have many bounties after you." Casper holstered his handgun and crossed his arms, expecting for a hardline or the normal ways that a Cybertronian would show memories, but Meister knelt on the floor and opened his chest. The white mech tripped backwards onto the table, breaking it in half, "wh-what are you doing? Wh-What is he doing?"

"It's like your spark, but it's not." Meister explained before Star gently pulled it out and his frame was quick to power down.

Star nervously held the card out to the mech, "please don't take us back to the bad Cybertronians. I don't want to forget my brother or Papa Alchemist or Meister. I know I'm just a youngling, but they're my family."

"Alright, alright I get it don't hurt the thing that botnapped you." He took the chip and placed it in his wrist. He saw coding streams flow through his systems and was met with files of memories. The bounty hunter went to view it, but a blue orb appeared in his processor, startling him. "What is that?"

_This is my true form. I can see that what you said about me you didn't mean. I'm sorry I put a blade to your neck, I didn't want to hurt you, but you were going to make a big mistake._ Meister opened the first file for Casper, letting him view what he had to go through.

_"Subject Meister-Jzz4, are all systems green lights?" A mech that was painted all white with a single orange optic asked after placing the droid in his frame. Meister looked around while his systems were updating and downloaded the files that were being transferred to the frame. His optics went down to his frame and he looked back up at the Cybertronian._

_"This shell is calibrating to my systems at an acceptable pace. All functions and systems are working properly. Did that sufficiently answer you question?" The silver droid tilted his helm slightly before standing up straight again. He folded his servos in front of himself, patiently waiting for answer._

_The scientist started taking down notes, "where are we currently located?"_

_Meister didn't want to answer, but the longer he tried to push back the coding forcing him to answer the more warnings appeared. He gave into his coding and answered. "We are currently located in Artificial Life's main training facility located in… I have hit a firewall."_

_"Good, subject has no ability to reveal our location. Gearshaft will be pleased to know this specimen has passed all current tests, now to test the modification chip." The scientist looked at Meister and held the datapad in front of the droid. On the screen was an astrofox. "Turn into this."_

_Meister shifted into it and then back without any questions. He stood there with his servos folded neatly. The mech continued shifting until the scientist lowered the datapad and lowered the datapad, and spoke with authority in his voice. "Shift into Primus."_

_The mechanism tilted his helm with nothing popping up in his memory banks with this title. "I am sorry, I am unable to shift into something without a previous visual. Do you have a vi-" Meister screamed in pain as he fell to the ground with electricity surging through his systems. His motor functions stopped, and his optical feed started glitching; it continued until Meister was taken out of his frame and was placed into a large server._

Casper slowly rose off the ground and moved to the couch as he felt Meister pull up another file for him to view.

_"Meister-Jzz4, what do you do when you see someone committing a crime?" The same scientist tested the droid that was standing in the middle of the testing room._

_"I am programmed to report any crimes to the proper authorities as I am an AA1 model, and we are entertainers." He answered without looking at the mech to his left before he quickly whipped his helm to the scientist. "Does that fully satisfy your question?"_

_"Subject seems to have lost that personality coding since being recoded." He walked in front of the silver mechanism. The Cybertronian tapped on the datapad and held up an image of this strange creature that had four different faces on each side, making different expressions, several long tentacles were hanging out from the lower half of it, and a beam of light directly under it. "Turn into the Quintesson."_

_With a visual Meister shifted into the Quintesson as ordered, and then back once the notes were complete. Meister backhanded harshly, sending him to the ground. He touched his cheek plate as he slowly stood back up. "What did I do wrong? I completed the task given to me. I cannot maintain a shift without proper training."_

_"Did I give you a question subject Meister-Jzz4? No, then why are you speaking?" The cyclops activated the shocking setting on the black band around his neck. Meister dropped to his knees like an Insecticon with their wings pried off their frames. He shouted in pain and grabbed his neck as he tried to ask the scientist to stop._

Casper rested his chin in his servos as he ex-vented hard, "you were just helping them with their tests. You didn't need to be shocked for that." He looked over at the youngling droids with a disturbing look. "Were you both treated like this? Shocked for ridiculous things?"

Star nodded with a small whimper, "if we didn't play."

"Or if we asked why we didn't have creators." Saber whispered and held onto Meister's servo. "I don't like Cybertronians like them, but Papa Alchemist. He's really nice! He made a way we can drink energon and made our armor, and… and treated us like Cybertronians!"

The bounty hunter rubbed his helm at the amount of information that he was getting. "This still doesn't explain why your creators… owners… whatever would have a bounty to find you both. I know you're listening, are you going to show me what's so bad about-

_Code holders. We call them code holders._ Meister informed the mech before adding. _You were an orphan? Alchemist and I often visit the orphanage in Iacon, I love spending time with the younglings._

"So weird having something in my helm." Casper's thoughts were interrupted by Meister showing him what he saw when he initially saved Star and Saber, and then when he rescued them from their code holder. With that information, the half-Predacon bounty hunter scratched his helm before pulling out the card from his wrist, giving it to Star to put back in Meister's frame. There was a moment before the silver frame started showing signs of life; the mech sat up and slowly rose to his peds. "Look, I was just doing my job. The femme just said that someone napped them."

Meister nodded and gently nudged the younglings to other room. When they were inside the berth room, he looked at him with a hurt expression. "I understand and I don't blame you for it. And despite you wanting to kill me and take the younglings to a code holder that wish to wrongfully recode them, I wish to see you again." He smiled while picking up the pieces of the table.

Hearing this threw Casper off and he went over to the shorter mech to tower over him. "You wish to _see me again_? After I held a blade and a handgun at you? And said all of those things about you?"

The AI nodded with an even bigger smile as he folded his arms behind his back. "I wish to get to know you on a personal level, and also to learn about a different type of companionship that I don't have with Alchemist nor the twins." Meister took a step closer and stood on the top of one of his peds, "that is if you wish to spend time with a tool."

"You are not a tool, and I should not have called you those names. I'm sorry for that." Casper apologized again, but Meister brushed it off with a smile. "You are a strange creature Meister; most would have kicked me out and threaten to have me arrested."

The AI laughed at the joke before giving a serious answer. "I find you just as strange Casper of Nova Cronum."

"Casper, you can just call me Casper." He suggested and the droid adjusted to the request. He nodded with a smile.

"I hope to spend more solar cycles with you, Casper."

* * *

I'm still alive.


	13. Chapter 13

Primes (In order of receiving Matrix) :

Prima

Primon

Onyx

Vector

Megatronus

Solus

Alchemist

Amalgamous

Quintus

Micronus

Nexus

Sentinel

Alpha

Time Units (Found on Tf wiki):

Astro-second: .498 seconds

Breem: 8.3 minutes

Cycle: 1.25 hours

Deca-cycle: ~3 weeks

Groon: ~1 hour

Klik: 1.2 minutes

Meta-cycle: 13 months

Orbital cycle: ~1 month

Solar cycle/lunar cycle: 1 day/1 night

Stellar cycle:~7.5 months

Deci-vorn: 8.3 years

Vorn: 83 years

Currency:

1 credit: ~60.25 shanix

1 cred card: 400 credits

* * *

Ch. 13

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Meister was running down the hall while wiping his servos in a cloth as he rushed to the front door where the mecha behind it was still buzzing the doorbell. He opened the door and looked up with a startled shout when he saw Casper standing in front of him with his optics wide and a servo in the air. "Casper, what are you doing here? How did you find my… I mean Alchemist's home?"

"I've been here plenty of times, you just didn't know." The bounty hunter spoke honestly before trying to save himself by covering his tracks. "I mean, I uh… followed you here. Wait that sounds even worse."

The droid covered his mouth with a chuckle when he felt the bounty hunter's field flare up. "Would you like to start again?"

"Yes," Casper watched Meister shut the door and then open it again with a much friendlier smile.

"Casper, what brings you here? Would you like to come in?" The droid politely asked while stepping to the side to allow the mech to come inside if he wished. The Predacon flashed a smile as he walked inside. Meister closed the door behind him and proceeded to lead him to the lounge with a smile on his face. "I wasn't aware that Alch was having a meeting with you."

The mech shook his helm as he looked around the room with a surprised look in his optics. "No, I came to actually see you. I know it's been few decacycles since we last spoke, work and all, but I have been thinking if you would like to go on a date with me." He leaned forward with his digits interlocking together with his gaze going to the now shocked droid. The white and orange-red ombre mech tilted his helm slightly with a curious look in his optics. "What is it Meister?"

"You wish to go on a date with me? Would it not be wise to be with a Cybertronian? My systems are not capable of dating and my model are… sorry I'm rabbling again. Alch says I do that when I'm faced with fighting my own systems." The silver droid was about to go on before he saw an amused smirk on Casper's face as well as his field flickered with amusement. "My apologies."

Casper shook his helm with the smile, "no it's kind of refreshing to have a good kind of ramble. With my… occupation I usually get cries, screams, and begging to live. Though you probably don't understand that feeling."

"I understand, I have some friends who have taught me how to remove the bad energon off the streets." Meister chose his words carefully, remembering that his code holder did not enjoy hearing about his time on a contract. He folded his legs on the couch with his servos holding his ankle struts. "Can I ask why you want to be seen with an AI droid? Would it not cause your reputation to go down?"

Casper snorted with a slight shrug, "being a bounty hunter and a Predacon already gave me a slagged reputation. Besides, gives you an excuse to wear your visors and out of this joint to explore the different cities." The Polyhexian's interest was piqued when exploration was mentioned, and the Predacon took that as a favorite activity. "Any cities you'd like to see first?"

"I have not been to Kaon, Velocity, Tarn, Uraya, or Nova Cronum." He kept his response short and sweet, remembering what Alchemist told him about giving out information.

"Well then how about we go to Velocity for some races? Maybe the end cycle?" Casper scooted closer to the mechanism with their optics locked onto each other. Meister wasn't sure why Casper's field was so strange, but he continued to remain calm. "Wow, you really don't have a field, so weird. Are you able to feel mine?"

The silver droid nodded with a smile, "all AI droids are capable of feeling fields. That is one thing I'm not able to use my modification chip for."

"Can you transform into inanimate objects?" The Predacon questioned.

Meister shook his helm, "Alch had me try that already. The closest thing to inanimate as I can get would be Vector Sigma. I can add things to my frame and stuff like that, but I don't appear to have coding to shift into anything I want. Are Predacon frames standard in Nova Cronum?"

"Huh? Oh, no, I wasn't sparked in Nova Cronum. I was found in the Sea of Rust by this group of Predacons who raised me before I decided to leave." Casper answered with an uncomfortable flare of his field.

"Oh, Meister," the pair looked up to see Alchemist standing in the doorway with a collection of datapads and a surprised expression. "You didn't tell me we were having a guest over. Hello again, Casper wasn't it?"

Casper shot to his peds while Meister slowly stood up with that look Alchemist was familiar with. The look of a curious youngling trying to solve a puzzle. "It is."

"Casper came here to ask me out on a date." The silver mech answered the questioned targeted towards him before he saw how fast Casper tensed up beside him.

The Prime looked more confused rather than concerned. He looked at the bounty hunter who looked visibly petrified. "Not an actual date, more like a friendly outing. I mean if Meister wishes for it to be a date then it could be."

"You want to take Meister out for a date? You are aware he isn't familiar with courting and because of what he is, he won't be able to fully fulfill any future desires." Alchemist hated to come across as he wasn't happy with it, but he had to make sure that both of them were fully aware of the facts. He walked over to the other side of Meister and placed a servo on the small shoulder, getting his attention. "I'm not saying any of this to discourage any sort of dating or," he looks at Casper before going on, "hanging out."

Meister looked between them with an innocent expression. "Cybertronians have over three-hundred courting laws, which one are we going to be following? I have been given Iacon as a title name, but you are from Nova Cronum."

"I was thinking that we could just go with the flow? I'm not good at dating either." Casper awkwardly chuckled before looking over at the other mech with a hopeful gleam in his optics. "So, is it okay with you if I take him out? I mean take him out for a date? I promise to keep him safe Prime, Sir, uh… I'm not used to addressing your type."

The silver mech arched an optical ridge at the bounty hunter's nervousness. "Casper, you do not have to address me as if I was Primus himself. And that is solely up to Meister, he is after all the one being asked."

"I would love to experience what Cybertronians do." The droid perked up with a big smile on his face. "Alch, are you unhappy with this?"

The older Cybertronian looked down at his charge with a startled look, "I'm not unhappy per se. It's a happy sadness." Hearing this caused further confusion in the Polyhexian. "Happy sadness is where you experience something so happy that you feel this aching pain in your chest, and it sometimes causes you to be sad."

"Emotions are very confusing, but I like it." The silver droid said enthusiastically as his frame started rippling to show off his excitement. His excitement resulted in him accidently shifting into an astrofox and jumped into Casper's fumbling servos. The mechanism nuzzled his helm underneath Casper's chin while his tail wrapped around the back of his neck.

The bounty hunter looked down at the nuzzling creature and then back up at Alchemist several times. The Prime sat down on the couch with a few pats, and Casper sat on the other end while still awkwardly holding the droid. "Meister does this on occasion when he is really happy. As you can imagine, I don't wish for anyone besides the Council or those that Meister trusts to find out about his sentience or his mod. I am not sure what or why Artificial Life have create them, but whatever his kind are they are fully aware of what they have done. That's why must have your word that you will protect him from anyone that wishes to harm him."

"I promise no harm will come to Meister." Casper watched the astrofox leap down and shifted back to normal. "I know our kind is known for transforming, but seeing that is so bizarre."

Meister tilted his helm as he slowly rose to his peds, "a good or bad bizarre?"

"I haven't decided yet. I should get going, I have some bounties to take care of." The bounty hunter rose to his peds and gestured over his shoulder with an uneasy chuckle.

The droid smiled as he looked at the mech, "where would you like to meet for our date or not date? Have we decided if this was a date?"

Casper laughed at the joke before giving a slight hum as he thought about the answer. He folded a wing in front of his face and small flames could be seen peeking around the appendage. The Predacon pulled his wing away from his face to show off energon encased in a fireball. Casper extended it out to Meister, who took it in his servos with a curious expression in his optics. "Call it a 'guarantee to catch Casper's attention' flame. Just hold it up to the sky and shine a light through it, and it will call my fire core."

"I will keep it safe." Meister held it to his chest as he led the white and orange ombre mech to the front door. When he said his farewells, he rejoined Alchemist in the lounge beside him. His optics were still gazing at the radiant blue and red flame as he spoke to his code holder. "Is this a common Cybertronian courting thing to do? To give balls of fire?"

The older mech laughed as he shook his helm at the second question. "No, not necessarily. Gifts can be whatever the pair believes the other would like. The gift exchanges are one of the few laws every race on Cybertron believes in. I remember the very first gift I gave my mate, a crystal spliced of her two favorite kinds that I grew by servo. She treasured that thing for a millennium before it lost its sparkle."

"I don't know Casper's likes, should I decline his offer? I don't want to offend him." Meister's helm shot up to look the Cybertronian with worry. He sat the slightly warm object in his lap.

Alchemist mentally sighed at how long and complicated this lesson was going to be, but he knew that the AI would enjoy it. "No, no you don't have to decline it if you like it. There is time to learn about each other through time. Now, speaking of you, I know you will not like it, but I wish to view all of your memories prior to me acquiring you. If you are okay with that?"

The silver droid looked down in thought before looking up with a brave smile, "I wish to put a stop to Founder Gearshaft and Artificial Life no matter the cost. What would you like to know Alch?"

It wasn't long before their first date came, and Meister was looking around within the shuttle that Casper was renting for their date. He found it curious that they both could avoid road traffic by flying, but Casper insisted on this mode of transportation. He didn't know much about their date except that they were going to Velocity to view a race. "Casper, why did we not just fly to Velocity? You have seen what I am capable of doing?"

"I don't want to anger your Prime by letting the world find out that you are basically slagging Primus himself." Casper exaggerated but he saw the confusion twist on the Polyhexian's face. "You know who Primus is, right? I figured living under someone like a Prime would-"

"Primus is one of the two major entities that Cybertronians believe in. He is the bringer of life and is to believed Cybertron itself. However, that isn't why I am confused; I am confused on how you think I am Primus, who may or may not be anything more than a fictional being that many cling to for hope." Meister realized too late that he had droned on, and he quickly looked away with this overwhelming feeling of embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I have been trying to get better about that. This is a Prime example as to why I usually don't talk to anyone without Alchemist around."

The Predacon waved it off and pulled up to a giant stadium that had shuttles coming and going while Cybertronians filing inside with various items of numbers or team colors on their frames. "It's fine, I used to be the same way when I was a little Predacon." They pulled up alongside a curb just as Casper gave out an awkward ex-vent. "So, you uh… ready to go see your first Velocitronian race?"

"I have this strange feeling in my chest, I think it would be classified as excitement. Did you know that the current fastest Velocitronian is a femme named Streamline who clocked at 3466.8 kilometers per klik?" He perked up with a big smile on his face. Casper was a tad disappointed that the droid had to hide his optics in order for him to even enter the stadium. They had to ban droids after an apparent incident where one of them had rigged a race in their code holder's favor.

"What did you do study before today?" Casper teased as he met Meister on his of the shuttle and offered his servo.

The visored mechanism flashed a smile, finally catching onto tones and teasing after nearly a century of being online. "If I had, then I have the reading speed of Velocitronian. In all seriousness, when Alch first brought me to his estate I had actually snuck informational datapads for me to learn about this planet." Meister looked down at their still wrapped servos, noting how gentle the giant servo was around his own. "We are holding servos."

"We are, aren't we?" The bounty hunter folded his wings around his shoulders just so he could fit through the already tight entrance. He tossed a few credit chips under the hole in the window. "Two tickets."

"No visors." The mech pointed to a sign that was pinned to window. Meister was about to say something about them just going somewhere else for their date, but Casper was faster.

"His optics are blanks; doc gave him some visors to see. Are ya really going to discriminate against a blind mech?" He crossed his arms as the ticket master took a firm stance as he contemplated on what he should do about the current situation.

The mech gave into the pressure, "let me see and if he's got blanks then you can go in." Meister deactivated his optics before tapping the side of his visors. He didn't like not being able to see even if it was only for a moment. After the count of three, he returned everything back to normal just in time to see the mech quickly hand over the two ticket stubs. The mechanism was ushered through the gates before Casper started sputtering apologies.

"It's okay Casper, I admire your fast thinking." Meister said with a cheery tone as he put his servo back into Casper's servo. He felt the flicker of happiness in the mech's field. "I find this interaction oddly better than a hug. Actually, maybe just below a hug?"

The Predacon snorted with the tips of his wings twitching. He carefully pulled Meister behind him through the crowd up to a section that wasn't as packed as the rest of the stadium. The races had soon started with Meister instantly becoming entranced with the various colors of racers. He had stopped listening to the announcer as he focused on the racers with amazement at how fluid they were. The visored mech didn't have to think about learning the standard frame builds in Velocity, as it was a system that was always on standby thanks to his modification chip.

_Run! Grandchase, get out of here now before they get you! No, let go of her!_ Meister hissed as he touched the side of his helm. A servo on his shoulder pulled him out of whatever that was that happened just now. He shook his helm before looking up into the amber optics that had looked into his visors with a hint worry. "Meister, you okay? You started shaky really fast."

"I-I think I am. I just had the strangest memory recall, but I am okay now." He assured before refocusing on the race while trying keep himself from thinking about whoever this Grandchase femme was.

These innocent dates continued on for nearly entire decacycle; Casper took Meister to Nova Cronum to the Institute for Higher Programming on their second date, they climbed Mount Helix in Tarn for their third date, the Predacon even offered to take the younglings with them to the Acid Wastes just outside Stanix on their fourth, for their fifth and sixth dates Casper and Meister explored Torus Heights, for their a few dates they would meet up at various parts of the Mithril Sea, Meister even offered to take Casper to Rodion near Praxus where Casper turned around and surprised the droid with taking him to Praxus's sacred crystal gardens after their adventure in Rodion, and the droid and Predacon went to the Plurex Flats surrounding Tyger Pax.

After each date, Meister was practically beaming and was so excited to tell his code holder about his time. They didn't do anything more than holding servos or the occasional gift exchange. Alchemist was always amused to see the excitement in his friend's optics. Meister was with Casper in Helix with the younglings as they all watched a holovid when something slid underneath the front door.

"I got it!" Saber announced and rushed over to grab it, and then crawled back over to the two adults that were cuddling on the couch. "Meister, can we have more energon suckers?"

"Yeah! I want more!" Star was quick to look up from his toy that Casper had gotten him. All it was, was a simple puzzle cube that had different symbols on each face. The oldest of the pair was absolutely thrilled to have something to do besides watching holovids or reading the majority of the time.

The Polyhexian looked at the datapad with a slight frown at how poorly timed this was. Casper looked over the mechanism's shoulder and pointed at one of the attached images. "Oh hey, I've got a bounty on his helm. Mech owns this store for Artificial Life, it's in Iacon. He skipped a court date."

"He is the owner that sold me to Alchemist." Meister continued to frown deeply at the image as his visors flickered red for a moment before returning to their normal blue color. "Star, Saber you both are to stay here while I'm gone. This shouldn't be long, I'm sorry Casper, I don't like ending our time early."

The mech was quick to offer his assistance, "well we're going after the same mech, so why don't we make this our thirty-second date? To see if we are able to work together with our well job."

Meister hummed in thought before looking up with a smile, "it would show you a different side of me. Are you prepared for that Casper?"

"I should be asking you the same thing." Casper threw his helm back in laughter. He knelt in front of the younglings with his servos going to their shoulders. "I'll bring him back safely. Okay?"

Star looked over at his caretaker, who nodded with a smile, and then back up at Casper with his optics wide. "You promise to come back too? Saber and I think you're fun, and you make Meister smile."

The Predacon's own smile revealed a toothy grin as he stood up with a proud flare of his field. "Of course, I will." Casper went over to the window and opened it before looking over at Meister with his optics glowing brightly. "Come on, I'll carry you."

* * *

I'm still alive.


	14. Chapter 14

Primes (In order of receiving Matrix) :

Prima

Primon

Onyx

Vector

Megatronus

Solus

Alchemist

Amalgamous

Quintus

Micronus

Nexus

Sentinel

Alpha

Time Units (Found on Tf wiki):

Astro-second: .498 seconds

Breem: 8.3 minutes

Cycle: 1.25 hours

Deca-cycle: ~3 weeks

Groon: ~1 hour

Klik: 1.2 minutes

Meta-cycle: 13 months

Orbital cycle: ~1 month

Solar cycle/lunar cycle: 1 day/1 night

Stellar cycle:~7.5 months

Deci-vorn: 8.3 years

Vorn: 83 years

Currency:

1 credit: ~60.25 shanix

1 cred card: 400 credits

Notice: Espoir and Andromeda belong to my friend rewindthetime_ (her IG) Also I apologize for the silence on this specific fic, I have to manually type the chapters in whereas my other posts both here and Ao3 I just c/p them. I also am still working while the Covid-19 fiasco is going on.

* * *

Ch. 14

"Do you remember where the mech was at?" Casper asked while him and Meister hid near the back alley of several buildings in Iacon. The droid ran his servos down his face and to his chest plate, his frame changing slowly from silver to a deep purple. He frame flattened out and he now looked boxy with a mask sliding up to cover the bottom half of his face. He took his visors off and his optic filters were now red, and large spurs grew from his elbows. The Predacon stared at Meister with his optics scanning the mech in front of him. "Wow, where does all of this come from?"

Meister lifted his servo to see his frame ripple before him, "my frame is filled over eight-hundred trillion nanites that lay dormant until I activate my mod." He lifted a fist to his mouth and coughed before looking at Casper, "how does my voice sound now?

The droid's voice was now deeper and had that bit of age behind it. Casper coughed in attempt to shake off the feeling that sent a small twinge in his frame. He nodded with his optics averted, "it sounds good. Shall we go and bring the target in?"

The now purple mech nodded and they left the alley to round the corner. Meister never thought he would be coming back to this shop ever. The droid frowned in concern of possibly being spotted by the store owner and called out. Casper looked at him with a frown at his hesitation. "Are you okay Meister?"

"I'm not, I am scared to go back in there." Meister looked over at Casper with an uncomfortable shift of weight. "It feels like… like I may be taken back to Artificial Life. I'm okay, can we take care of this before I decide to just rid the planet of this mech."

Casper nodded before opening the shop door, the owner popped his helm out and smiled enthusiastically. "Welcome! Interested in buying any droids or modifications for your existing droids? We won't be getting our new line of assisted living AI droids for a couple orns due to unfortunate setbacks."

"Oh, no we came to just see if we were interested in buying one. We are a few credits away from being able to afford one." Casper flashed the seller an award-winning fake smile. "So, tell us isn't it weird to look at bots in boxes?"

Meister went down the aisle and came to a halt when he saw the several boxes of Polyhexians that looked exactly like him, except they had different colors. He looked over his shoulder to see Casper taking the shopkeeper to the other side of store. Meister put a servo to the plastic window as if he could feel them. "I don't know if you can hear me, I promise to help free all of you. I'm working with the Council to figure out what we are and why we are here."

"Hey love, can you come here?" Casper called Meister over. The disguised mechanism sped walked to the Predacon. Meister smiled at his partner. "Our dear friend here was just telling me all about the additions all droids are required to be installed with. What were they again?"

"I work as security for a noble femme and she is rather paranoid." Meister hoped that the lie was sufficient enough for the mech.

The seller nodded with a solemn look of understanding. "I absolutely understand the need of secrecy. Well as I was telling your bond mate, Artificial Life is coming out with a new software update, it will replace the tracking chip all of the older models have. It also has some improved anti-hacking upgrades to prevent any well hacking. Artificial Life has announced they were personally sending their engineers and technicians to every registered home that droids currently reside in."

"Really? Every registered home? Have there been issues with droids being hacked?" Meister knew it was a cover up because he went off their radar and then the twins. "I had thought that with all the precautions you took that hacking would be difficult?'

He looked at the disguised mechanism up and down with that skeptic look. "Well they are mostly unhackable," his skeptic look quickly turned into a smile, "but now with this new update anyone who attempts at hacking will be met with resistance!"

_This is not good. They will not leave Alchemist alone if I do not have this update, but the twins will be safe from harm. And Vector Prime won't be able to help me this time._ Meister was brought out of his thoughts by Casper elbowing his side. "Ow, that hurt. I was just thinking if my employer would be willing to risk it. What else does the software update include? Anything that could potentially cause a glitch?"

"No sir, every new droid that was already installed with it have passed every test." He continued to smile.

Meister nodded with hidden doubt, "well that is good to know. I think we'll look around for a bit." The droid was going to back to gathering information on the boxed up droids before there was a crashing sound. The three of them rushed over to the sound, coming upon a silver femme with gold and white accents. On the top of the femme's helm were long gold audial fins. Around her were broken crates and some products were now unsellable; the shopkeeper was enraged and went to strike her, but Meister grabbed his wrist.

"Unhand me, this incompetent droid has just broken all of my new product! That's was worth thousands of shanix!" He jerked his servo away from the mech. "3vo-2703, I'm going to be so glad when you're implanted with that chip. Clean this mess up."

Meister clenched his fists in anger at how disrespectful the mech was. The femme moved onto her knees, keeping her helm turned down. Casper gently elbowed the mech that was rippling in an attempt to calm him down. The droid knelt down beside her, causing her to flinch when he touched her back. "Do not worry, I've come to help." He smiled at his fellow droid; placing her servo on her chest to show the femme that he meant no harm.

She placed her servo on his chest, gasping softly while Meister put a digit to his lips as he nodded. "Please, I want to go home. This… this isn't my shell and that _mech_ is not my code holder."

"I will help?" Meister stood up and looked around to see Casper smooth talking the shopkeeper. The mech put a servo on the droid's chest and they started communicating before he pulled away with a firm nod. "I will return you home."

"Thank you so much." The femme droid smiled before Meister went over to the two Cybertronians.

The droid smiled with a misleading smile, "say I think I've found something my boss will like. Why don't we talk credits in a more private area? Can't have the droids learning, can we?"

The shopkeeper looked at the bounty hunter and his companion with a suspicious hum before smiling. "Brilliant idea, let's go to my office and we can discuss prices. Which droid caught your optic?"

"The black droid in the assistant section." Meister pointed to the contained droid as they walked into the corner office. Once the door was sealed, Meister changed into his Mask agent disguise when the shopkeeper moved to his terminal to get everything for the requested mechanism.

"So, this is one is an older model which means you'll be getting it half off! And it looks like this one has a rather unique mod, increased strength." He shopkeeper looked up just as Meister and Casper to pull out their blasters. The mech jumped in his chair with his servos instantly going to the air. "No, don't kill me."

Casper licked his lips as he opened his mouth just to taunt the mech with his mouth filling up with fire. Meister was intrigued by the bounty hunter's choice of intimidation, but he refocused his attention the shopkeeper when he saw the mech move slightly. "Do not move unless ya wish want yer helm blown up. Tell us about Artificial Life; how are they supplyin' ya?"

"I don't know! I just sell the blasted things." Meister frowned and shot at the mech's shoulder. He fell back in his chair, holding his shoulder with fear growing evident in his optics. "You're crazy, both of you! I'm calling the enforcers."

Casper exhaled the fire he held in his mouth next to the mech's helm. "Ah, ah, ah you would do wise not to call the law. Now answer my buddy's question, or I'll have to eat your spark." He made an exaggerated sound as he licked his lips.

"A-All we are told is what we say in order to sell the droids! I swear!" His field was spiking with panic. "P-Please don't kill me, I have a family."

"Lies won't get ya anywhere. Ah know ya do not have a family, not even a sparkmate. In fact, she broke dah bond with ya when she caught ya foolin' around with yer droid." Meister picked up the shopkeeper and shifted into him, getting a shocked gasp from the mech he was disguising as. "No one is gonna miss ya. In fact, ya angered a many bots, especially some with a lot of power. Why shouldn't we kill ya?"

The shopkeeper struggled in his hold. "I-I can… uh, uh… I can give you three AI droids for free!"

Meister glared and something snapped in the droid for only brief moment. He grabbed the shopkeeper's face and bashed the back of his helm into the way. "We are not toys to be passed around." The droid lifted his fist to punch the mech in the face, but a large servo grabbing his elbow stopped him.

"Hey, I wanna kill him as much as you, but we can't kill him yet." Casper gave the mechanism a stern look.

"But you didn't see, you don't understand what _he _did. What _he, _what they did to all of us when we were left defenseless." Meister gripped the shopkeeper's neck as he felt this overbearing anger that he hadn't felt even for all of his previous targets. "Why should he stay online?"

Casper gave him a firm glare, "trust me on this." He held up his pistol near the relieved shopkeeper's helm, smiling when he saw the return of fear in his optics. "Besides fear makes the spark tastier. Now, tell us some useful information or we'll shorten your life span even further."

"I don't know anything more! Please don't kill me." He begged when Meister finally released his neck. The shopkeeper rubbed his neck to see how damaged he was before braving to attack the droid with a quick draw of a small blade. Meister hissed in pain. The mech went to press the panic button, but he was sadly interrupted with a hard force against his midsection. He froze and there was nothing before he coughed up energon. "You…w- get… away."

The Predacon yanked his servo out of the shopkeeper with a small growl. "We already have." Casper looked at the cut across the silver mechanism's chest plate, touching it with his clean servo. "It doesn't look too bad, you okay? Never seen you so mad."

"I-I think I'm okay. I'm sorry for getting mad, it's just… Cas you don't understand what it's like to be like us. You didn't see the things we're put through, forced to go through in that building! Artificial Life treated us like mindless toys, for entertainment, and they destroyed any of us that showed any form of free will. I went through that six times, not remembering my past lives besides tiny glimpses." Meister looked down at the graying form at their peds. "Alch, the Council, Mask have been helping me figure out what we are and why Artificial Life is doing all this."

The Predacon wrapped a wing around his frame to provide a little comfort. "Hey, no need to get sappy yet. We got a job to do. You take care of the cameras and I'll handle the body."

"What about the others? I can't just leave them like this." Meister went over to the terminal, but kept his optics on the Predacon, interested to see how he worked.

"Um," the pair looked up quickly and Meister smiled at the sight of the femme he had spoken to earlier, "my code holder Andromeda may be willing to house at least a few of them. She lives in the commons of Polyhex, at least she did when I was still with her."

Meister smiled with a bit of excitement at that idea, "really you would do that? Casper please, even if it's only a few it would mean they'd be safe."

Casper stood up with the frame going over his shoulder. "And how, do you expect us to stow not one but several full-sized frames?"

"Have you forgotten what I can do? I can change into a large enough transport vehicle to hold all of them." Meister looked at Espoir with excitement in his optics, "Espoir, I will only be able to save a few. I can take them to some friends in Helix until you get the okay from your code holder."

"I can do that." The other droid nodded before going to grab whoever she could.

Two groons had gone by the time Meister was sitting in the back alley with Casper and Espoir loading up only four offlined droids before he turned onto the road to Polyhex. They were only on the road for a few kliks before Meister questioned his partner. "Cas, what happened to the shopkeeper?"

In the trailer, Casper rubbed his midsection with a lick of his lips in satisfaction. "No trace of him, not that any of you will miss him. So, are ya going to turn them on or just keep them off like this?" The Predacon looked over at the sitting frames that just moved in their spot with every little movement.

"It would be better if they remained offline until we get to Helix. They'll respond better to droids, even if you are not going to be their code holder." Meister said as he turned onto the bridge going to Helix.

Espoir kept to herself as she watched the Predacon go to poke the closest droid, "we can still feel even if our chips aren't activating our shells."

"Wha- really? Strange." Casper lowered his servo but kept staring at the frames. "What do you remember? Before uh… onlining?"

"Lots of tests, pain." Espoir gripped her legs with her face going behind her knees.

Meister came to a stop outside the gates of Mask and waited for everyone to get out before shifting back. They were met at the gate entrance by Wicker and femme that Meister had never met. Espoir stood close to Meister and the other droids, not knowing either of them. The Polyhexian stepped forward and tilted his helm upon seeing that the femme had one amber optic and the other was blue. "Who are you?"

"I am 553-15JM, but my manager has decided to refer to me as Jem. He has instructed me to show you something when you arrive." She held her servo out and Meister cautiously pressed his servo against her chest as she did the same.

_"Hello, Jzz4-Meister, I am the associate that Wicker has as a spy to gather intel on Artificial Life. I go by the code name of Timestone, not even Jem knows my real name to protect you both from any… unfortunate captures. Anyways, I know Wicker hasn't told you about what we are doing, so I am hiding away every droid I am capable of hiding. I am going to take them off world once filled enough; if they wish to go with me. When we had gotten more conclusions that you were not simply a… rare anomaly, we have tried to give them as much freedom as we possibly can. If they wish to remain on Cybertron, I have a list of trusted medics and confidential… clients that I can hide more of your kind."_

The silver droid pulled his servo away and looked at his servo as if it contained a surprising secret. He looked at Jem with concerning gaze, "your optics, did your code holder do this?"

"No, Artificial Life made my model five generations before yours. They had actually scrapped my model when we were not purchased at a preferred rate. Timestone had found my body, and repaired me the best he could."

"Can we take dah chit chat inside?" Wicker threw a digit over his shoulder. "Also, who's yer new friend, Sparkles?"

"You know who this is, as for the droids, this is Espoir. She wishes to be returned to her code holder in Polyhex." Meister looked at Casper with a smile. "Could you head to the twins? They probably want to make sure that we are okay."

Casper rested a servo on the small of the droid's back with his wings opening up. "Will you be coming back?"

"Briefly, I will have to inform," he remembered the basic training he remembered from Wicker. He shook his helm and smiled up at the Predacon, "I will later."

The Predacon nodded before stepping back so he had plenty of space to transform. When he lifted off, Meister picked up a couple droid frames while a couple Mask members grabbed the others. Espoir followed the visored mech closely, "can they be trusted?"

"They can be trusted; they'll be able to return you to your code holder." Meister smiled at the femme before following the other members to where a small collection of droid were at. They were onlined and all turned their backs when the mask members got close to them. The droid activated the others before looking at them all with a smile, he deactivated his mod as well as his visors to show that he was like them. "I know you do not trust them because of what happened, but I can vouch for them."

He was answered with them all touching his chest plate to see if he spoke the truth. The droids eventually pulled away, all looking at Wicker with amber optics. They believed Meister in them being safe, but they didn't trust them enough to speak. Meister understood their uncertainty and wasn't going to force them to speak. "We can put you into hiding if you want too that is."

"Hey Sparkles," Meister looked up at the walk path over the conveyer belt, Wicker tossed him a couple small boxes. He fumbled a bit to avoid spilling it, but managed to keep hold of them. "Ah know ya wanna chat with yer buddies, but they are still connected tah AL. So, hush hush, aight?"

Meister nodded and looked at the small group of droids, "I will be able to help you. Just do what I did from my memories."

"Thank you." One of them nodded at the Polyhexian.

Meister returned to the apartment with the twins tackling him just in the doorway. He chuckled at their excitement. "Meister, Casper told us a story!"

"Yeah, and he even made pretty dancers with his fire!" Saber pulled Meister to the couch. The Polyhexian laughed lightly as he sat beside Casper. The Predacon pulled them into his arms. Star and Saber giggled in the hold of their caretakers. "Casper, can you make more pretty things out of fire?"

Casper chuckled while rubbing Meister's helm, "okay fine one small one. I don't want to melt anyone." The Predacon tilted his helm up as he released a medium-sized ring of fire, manipulating it to form a single glyph. Meister, along with the younglings, were looking at it with amazement in their optics. "Like it?"

"It looks beautiful," Meister whispered as he watched Casper extinguish the flame with a wave of his servo. "What does it mean? It's not any glyphs I recognize."

"That's cause it's an old Predacon dialect. It means 'together under one roof'." The dragon repositioned himself.

"Like a family?" Star turned to look up at Casper and Meister with a hopeful glint in his optics.

The silver droid nodded with a smile, pressing their noses together, "yes like a family Star."

Hearing this made the younglings even happier. "I can't wait to be a family with you, Star, Casper, and Papa Alchemist." Saber hugged the two adults with a smile on his lips.

Alchemist was repairing Meister while the droid was reading a datapad on one of Alchemist's old research papers. The visored mech looked up at his code holder with a curious gaze in his optics. He didn't know how to ask the Cybertronian, but the droid wished to learn more about their lifestyle. "Alch, I have a few questions in regards to myself." The Prime hummed in acknowledgement. "How does one know when they are ready to take the next step in a romantic relationship? Do your people just expose your sparks and bond?"

Alchemist was caught off guard by the questions that he accidently burnt himself. He dropped the torch with his servo going to his mouth. Meister frowned in confusion at the extreme reaction. "Are you okay Alch? I didn't mean to startle you with my questions."

"No, no you're okay Meister. I just wasn't expecting it." The Prime picked up the torch, turning it off and setting it on the table in front of him. "Can I ask as to why you're asking about bonding? Are things with Casper going that well?"

The silver mechanism lit up with a smile at the second question. "It is! Being with Casper makes my systems feel strange, my anti-virus and firewall protocols see it as danger which is interesting that it sees emotions as dangers. Cas, doesn't care that I'm not a Cybertronian and hasn't even asked to have a master file. I've even gotten comfortable without my visors around him."

"Well that's good that he is respecting boundaries, and isn't letting major differences influence his feelings towards you." Alchemist touched the welded spot on Meister's chest plate. He knew that having Meister involved with Wicker would cause some injuries, but no one but the Council knew about his friend's involvement with Mask. "It looks like it will blend in decently. As for bonding you asked, we don't just merge sparks and are bonded. Sometimes the merge won't work, even if the two are in love the sparks are not."

The Polyhexian nodded in understanding what he was saying. "Well seeing as I do not have a spark, I know it would be impossible for me to give Cas that level of trust."

"And you wish to use your master file as a way of showing your trust in him?" Alchemist rose his optic ridge at his friend. Meister fidgeted with his digits in thought. The Prime smiled, placing a supportive servo on his the Polyhexian's knee. "If you believe he will be responsible with it, then you should speak to him about it. Oh, before I forget did you hear Artificial Life's announcement on the upgrades?"

Meister nodded before hopping off the table, "how are we going to avoid it? They will not leave until I'm upgraded."

"I have a plan for that, and I would like your thoughts on it." Alchemist typed on the terminal nearby, pulling up schematics of Meister's frame. "Now, it will take a bit to make an exact replica, but with you it will be easier to make a copy of you. They will be uploading the files into this frame and then we'll destroy it once they leave."

"What about me? Won't they be confused when they can't find me?" Meister questioned as he looked at the schematics of his shell.

Alchemist was the one quiet now as if he were feeling guilty about something. "I don't want to do this, but I would need you to be a part of me. I found out after studying some of files Wicker brought me after breaking into a smaller building under Artificial Life's ownership. There were schematics for all of the different models, the master files, but nothing on how they get you."

"It would be with Gearshaft in the main building. The smaller buildings are most likely repair shops, customer service, and shops where we're sold at. It would be hard to break into the main building." Meister put his servo to his chest with a slight frown before looking up at the other silver mech with an encouraging smile. "I trust you Alch."

The Prime put a servo on Meister's back with a smile, "then let's get started on building you."

It took several solar cycles for Meister and Alchemist to build a near perfect replica of the droid. The only thing that separated the real mechanism and the fake one, was the fact it didn't have the AI. The droid poked the face with a strange feeling in his systems. "This makes me feel… uncomfortable. What if they don't come here?"

"I know it is strange, but-" the doorbell rang, and the Prime whipped his helm over his shoulder. "Come on, I'll keep your frame in my chambers."

The pair hurried to Alchemist's room where the Prime took Meister out of his shell, laying it on his berth, and placed the card into his wrist. He left the room to see that one of the servants was greeting two white and orange mechs that had goggles covering their optics and suitcases handcuffed to their outside servos. Alchemist felt memories that were not his push forward in his processor.

_"Is the unit ready for frame and AI integration?"_

_"Yes Sir."_

_"Good, bring formula 14-O up to 14%. Gearshaft wants obedience in this unit to be absolute."_

The Prime curled his digits in a brief moment of anger, knowing that these two could have be one of many mechs to have experimented and worked on Meister's kind. He shook off the feeling as he got closer to the front door. "Hello, my name is Alchemist, what brings you fine mechs here?" Alchemist held his servo out, but dropped it awkwardly after the pair refused to shake it.

"We have come for the droid." The mech spoke with almost an echoey tone as if he were speaking through a megaphone.

"Where is it?" The second mech spoke with the same tone.

"Come for my droid? Are you with Artificial Life?" Alchemist played dumb while leading the two to his conservatory where the fake Meister stood firmly. "I was going to comm someone to come fix my droid. He was going to entertain me with some music, but he just glitched out on me. Shame really."

Meister was a bit amused by the fabricated story. The two mechs didn't speak as they mirrored each other's movements. They slammed their cases on the table and started their examination on the 'droid'. The AI brought up another memory.

_"Unit seems to be following commands with peak obedience. Unit 4 pick up the cup of energon and drink it."_

_A silver arm grabbed the cup and drank it before falling to the ground and purged for several groons straight._

Alchemist couldn't believe that they would intently endanger someone just for tests. The mech watched how they connected cables to several ports in the exposed systems in the fake Meister's chest. He kept silent as the pair started downloading several files. Having the AI in his frame was odd, it was like a bond with having the memories and thoughts being shared. He had also saw what Meister was talking about in regards to his mod not appearing in any files.

"The frame and AI card are not functioning in unison, a possible new glitch. These new updates will fix any bugs this unit has." The first mech closed up his case.

"It will take twenty groons for the updates to finish. If there are still any glitches, contact your nearest Artificial Life facility." The second followed his partner. They turned and left through the front door without a second glance.

Alchemist shook his helm at how unfriendly the pair was. Meister agreed as his code holder picked up the fake and connected it to a terminal to inspect the so-called updates. "I want you to take this to Wicker, maybe his crew can find out how many have been affected of these updates."

_I'll be sure to drop it off. And I can't reveal much, but Mask has been rescuing droids from being purchased. They're taking them to a safe location._ Meister saw how Alchemist's terminal was popping up with hundreds of warnings of spyware and other dangerous files.

"Well that's not good." Alchemist put his servos on his waist as he stared at the now corrupted terminal. "Fantastic. Oh, rescuing? Finding out about your sentience must have gotten to Wicker. He may be many things, but the moment he finds out about slavery he gets mad. Were you breaking them free from AL like Maccadam did with you?"

_Yeah, Wicker didn't want to risk Artificial Life to find out about them. _Meister watched Alchemist unplug the frame from the terminal before he started dismantling it, and then smashed the CPU. _Do you think you could put me back in my frame?_

"Oh," Alchemist perked up with realization on his face, "right! I'm sorry Meister!"

Meister chuckled at his friend's strangeness. _You are amusing Alchemist. Don't change please._

* * *

I'm still alive.


	15. Chapter 15

Primes (In order of receiving Matrix) :

Prima

Primon

Onyx

Vector

Megatronus

Solus

Alchemist

Amalgamous

Quintus

Micronus

Nexus

Sentinel

Alpha

Time Units (Found on Tf wiki):

Astro-second: .498 seconds

Breem: 8.3 minutes

Cycle: 1.25 hours

Deca-cycle: ~3 weeks

Groon: ~1 hour

Klik: 1.2 minutes

Meta-cycle: 13 months

Orbital cycle: ~1 month

Solar cycle/lunar cycle: 1 day/1 night

Stellar cycle:~7.5 months

Deci-vorn: 8.3 years

Vorn: 83 years

Currency:

1 credit: ~60.25 shanix

1 cred card: 400 credits

* * *

Song: A Million Dreams from The Greatest Showman

Note; this chapter is going to be in 2 parts and this will have 2 major deaths and a MAJOR time jump, which will be explained in a later chapter

Ch. 15

_I close my eyes and I can see_

_The world that's waiting up for me_

_That I call my own_

_Through the dark, through the door_

_Through where no one's been before_

_But it feels like home_

_They can say, they can say it all sounds crazy_

_They can say, they can say I've lost my mind_

_I don't care, I don't care, so call me crazy_

_We can live in a world that we design_

_'Cause every night I lie in bed_

_The brightest colors fill my head_

_A million dreams are keeping me awake_

_I think of what the world could be_

_A vision of the one I see_

_A million dreams is all it's gonna take_

_A million dreams for the world we're gonna make_

_There's a house we can build_

_Every room inside is filled_

_With things from far away_

_The special things I compile_

_Each one there to make you smile_

_On a rainy day_

_They can say, they can say it all sounds crazy_

_They can say, they can say we've lost our minds_

_I don't care, I don't care if they call us crazy_

_Runaway to a world that we design_

_Every night I lie in bed_

_The brightest colors fill my head_

_A million dreams are keeping me awake_

_I think of what the world could be_

_A vision of the one I see_

_A million dreams is all it's gonna take_

_A million dreams for the world we're gonna make_

_However big, however small_

_Let me be part of it all_

_Share your dreams with me_

_You may be right, you may be wrong_

_But say that you'll bring me along_

_To the world you see_

_To the world I close my eyes to see_

_I close my eyes to see_

_Every night I lie in bed_

_The brightest colors fill my head_

_A million dreams are keeping me awake_

_A million dreams, a million dreams_

_I think of what the world could be_

_A vision of the one I see_

_A million dreams is all it's gonna take_

_A million dreams for the world we're gonna make_

_For the world we're gonna make_

Meister and a femme he had sing with him took each other's servos, and bowed to the clapping audience. He turned to the femme and hugged her before they went their separate ways. The droid went over to the bar where Alchemist was conversing with Maccadam at the bar. Meister sat down with oil in an opaque cube being sat in front of him. "Magnificent as always Meister. I miss you preforming since we have been so busy with expanding the council. Amalgamous and Quintus have missed you at the towers since you've been spending so much time away from Iacon."

"I'm sorry that I haven't visited the council in a while, Wicker has been keeping me extremely busy as of late. Though he told me has a business trip off world, so I will be able to spend more time with the Council." Meister smiled enthusiastically before drinking the oil with a satisfied hum. "Thank you Maccadam for the oil."

"You are welcome my friend. I enjoy having you perform in my bar; it lightens up everyone's mood." Maccadam smiled before going over to another patron.

The Polyhexian wished that Casper could have come to see him perform, but he had a bounty that he had to collect. After nearly two centuries of courting, Meister felt that he was ready to move onto the next step; kissing.

"You plan on boiling that oil?" Alchemist's teasing pulled the droid out of his thoughts. "Credit for your thoughts?"

The silver mechanism smiled with this feeling of embarrassment for being caught thinking. "I was just thinking of finally kissing Casper, but I feel nervous and excited at the same time. What if I upset him with the kiss, but then what do I do if he likes it? Is this what Cybertronians feel when they experience a kiss for the first time?"

The older mech chuckled softly at his charge's innocence, "it is normal, yes. There's more to your question though, I can tell from your facial expression. What is it my friend?"

"If I kiss him, it will mean that I wish to be his conjux endura. He knows about my issue; how can we be conjux endura when I can't form the bond?" Meister frowned as he thought about it some more. "And the idea that he will not wish to be with me because of this fact, it makes my core hurt."

The Prime put a servo on the smaller mechanism's back, "if the mech remained by your side after this long without leaving or rushing you, then he does not care about whether or not you have a spark or not."

Meister nursed his oil as he thought about what he had said. He looked at his friend with a smile, feeling better after the brief reassurance. "Thank you Alch, hearing that come from you makes me feel good."

"Good my friend." Alchemist and Meister tapped their drinks together before finishing off their drinks.

It was well beyond late, and Meister was quietly entering the apartment knowing Star and Saber would be recharging. What he wasn't expecting, was Casper standing by the table with a small crystal in his servo and his mouth was glowing a soft blue. His optics were wide as if he had been caught with his chest plates opened. The droid grinned brightly at the sight of the Predacon. He hurried over to him and jumped into his arms. "Woah, I was only gone for a few solar cycles." The bounty hunter carefully sat the crystal on the table before rearranging the full grown frame in his arms. "I-"

The mech was interrupted by the silver mecha curling his digits around his face, and pressed their lips together for only a moment before pulling away. He frowned when he got little, scratch that, zero reaction from Casper. The Polyhexian jumped to the ground with a sad expression, "Oh no, did I read your field wrong?"

Meister turned away to go sulk by himself, but Casper quickly grabbed his servo and spun him into his arms before dipping the silver droid into a kiss. Compared to the chaste kiss Meister gave Casper, Casper's kiss caused so many systems and he felt strange when the bounty hunter pulled away. The Predacon removed Meister's visors with a confident smile. "You didn't read anything wrong."

"Wow, I have never felt so tingly before." The droid finally found his stabilizers, but he wasn't about to remove his hold from the mech's arms. "Can we kiss again?"

Casper chuckled as he led them to the couch. When he didn't fear Meister falling, he used only a couple digits on the droid's chin to pull him closer. The Predacon used his wings to hold the Polyhexian close to him. Meister pulled away when he felt Casper grow hot, which concerned him. "Cas, are you okay? Your frame has become hot."

"It's just from my Predacon coding, nothing to worry about. I'm guessing ya liked the kiss?" Casper rubbed the small horns on top of Meister's helm.

The mechanism nodded with a smile before placing a servo on the mech's chest plate, "the kisses were enjoyable. I'm sorry that it took me so long to kiss you, I didn't want to make you feel rushed or uncomfortable."

Casper snorted at how thoughtful the droid was. He rubbed his back with another quick kiss, "don't be sorry Meister, you were nervous to have your first kiss. I was honestly expecting another century before this happened."

"It probably would have been another century." Meister rested his helm against the broad chest with an arm resting between them. "Did you hear about the live debate about Artificial Life and freeing droids? The Council is wanting me there as proof."

"I'm hearing a but coming on," Casper lifted the silver droid's chin up a little so they could look into each other's optics.

"But, what if bots stop following the council just because they want us to be treated like Cybertronians? I fear that it's too soon for this secret to be made public." Meister sat up; his servos pressed firmly against the chest plate. "And what about all of the young AIs? They can't protect themselves like droids my size can."

"We'll figure something out." Casper sat up with his arms wrapped around the small waist. He pressed his lips against the silver helm to reassure the stressed droid. "Knowing the Council, they won't let anything stop them from telling the planet that Artificial Life made sentient beings and selling them like objects."

Meister let a smile fall on his lips, feeling better after getting his worries off his processor. "I know we'll be able to live the way we want without fear once the Council tells all of Cybertron."

Cheers filled the city streets of Iacon as the Council stood on their platform, waving to the crowd below. Prima and Primon both took a step forward with servos going into the air. "It is with great pride of the Council to finally bring you, people of Cybertron, to light of the rumors that have been circling our great planet!" Primon took another step forward before gesturing at the large screen where the Artificial Life logo appeared. "We have been building a civil case against Artificial Life for the past seven decades. They have unlawfully created millions, if not billion, sentient beings in the forms of these supposed AI droids! We have significant proof that they are capable of having emotions, hopes, dreams, fear, desire and yet we use them as objects."

"But no more, from this point on Artificial Life will be brought to justice and all of these droids will free from slavery. Anyone who refuses to give up the AI, will be sentenced and imprisoned of illegal enslave-" Prima was interrupted by a high-pitched scream. The crowd opened up to see a muted green Praxian grabbed his neck and it exploded, the crowd screamed loudly as several more helms exploded.

Meister covered his neck cables; he grabbed Alchemist's arm and spoke into his receptor. "Those are all droids. Alch, it's them they're killing us."

"Prima, we need to save them." Amalgamous was trying to comm for enforcers to do crowd control.

"Onyx, Megatronus we need to control the panic." Solus went to the top of the barrier to get everyone's attention. The two mechs went to join her, but a loud banging sound caused everyone in the crowd to scream in fear again while the Council recoiled away to protect themselves.

Meister felt something drip down the side of his helm. His gaze went up to the sorrowful expression in Alchemist's optics. He grabbed the large mech as shock filled him, "Alch, Alch nonononono why would you do that?! Vector, Alchemist's been shot."

"Megatronus, help me get Alchemist inside." Vector rushed over to the silver mechs as more panic down below while the helms of droids were exploding, and shots being fired at the primes. Meister followed after the two Primes; the rest of the Prime Council was trying calm the panic. The droid didn't understand why Artificial Life would want to silence the Council, and then get rid of the proof by blowing them up.

Prima and Primon hurried inside with the others hurrying their brother to the infirmary. Meister stuck close to his best friend while medics were trying to repair the Prime. The first of the Primes grabbed a hold of Meister's arm, pulling him away while the droid was yelling. "No, let go of me! Alch! Alchemist! Prima let me go! I can help him! Please release me!"

"Meister, they know what they're doing." Prima kept his hold on the droid and pulled him out of the room. The droid shouted as the door shut with two medics connecting cables to Alchemist's spark. "Meister, we need you to go home where you will be safe. The Council will need your help."

"No, you mean that you want to question me. I have been allied with the Council for centuries Prima, had faith in you and all of the Council, and now that Artificial Life is _killing_ my kind you think I'm a danger." Meister pulled away with his frame rippling to express his distress. "I will not let my home be my prison Prima."

The Prime put a servo out wanting to calm the droid down, "that's not it my friend. We only want you home, so you are safe _from_ AL. Please calm down, Alchemist wo-"

"No! You don't get to use my friend, my mentor as a way to control me!" Meister shifted into a technohawk and flew out an open window. The droid felt dizzy with a flurry of emotion; anger, fear, pain, worry, rage were exploding out of him. He had to go to his family to protect them from Gearshaft and Artificial Life. The Polyhexian rushed up the stairs, throwing the door open, and was for once thankfully pulled into a hug by Casper and the twins. "Thank Primus, you're both okay!"

Casper pulled Meister inside, locking it immediately before kissing the droid several times. "We were watching the news and saw it all. I was so scared that you and the squirts would deactivate. I can't believe AL would be so crazy to cause a panic like this. Why didn't they-" Casper looked at the two youngling droids before back at his lover and decided to best to reword himself. "Why didn't Artificial Life get rid of you and them?"

"When I went to Maccadam and he fixed me, he removed the tracker. It was also a micro-explosion." Meister sat on the couch, pulling Casper down beside him. He held onto the mech's servo with a deep frown as the guilt started eating at him. "But Alch got hurt. He got hurt because of me."

Casper hugged the mechanism to comfort him when he saw the silver frame rippling. "Meister, it's okay. Primes are strongly stubborn when it comes to deactivation. Alchemist will live." He pulled the younglings onto his lap and then used his wings as a form of a cocoon to give the three droids a sense of security. "I will protect you all from Gearshaft, I promise."

"Casper, what about Papa Alchemist? Will he be okay?" Star questioned while holding onto his brother's frame.

"He will be okay Star. How about we watch a movie?" Casper unfurled his wings to let them all get comfortable.

* * *

I just realized that this is chapter 15 and I haven't hit the part where the war starts. Damn this is either side or impressive. lol


	16. Chapter 16

Primes (In order of receiving Matrix) :

Prima

Primon

Onyx

Vector

Megatronus

Solus

Alchemist

Amalgamous

Quintus

Micronus

Nexus

Sentinel

Alpha

Time Units (Found on Tf wiki):

Astro-second: .498 seconds

Breem: 8.3 minutes

Cycle: 1.25 hours

Deca-cycle: ~3 weeks

Groon: ~1 hour

Klik: 1.2 minutes

Meta-cycle: 13 months

Orbital cycle: ~1 month

Solar cycle/lunar cycle: 1 day/1 night

Stellar cycle:~7.5 months

Deci-vorn: 8.3 years

Vorn: 83 years

Currency:

1 credit: ~60.25 shanix

1 cred card: 400 credits

* * *

Note; this chapter is going to be in 2 parts and this is part 2!

* * *

Ch. 16

"Hello, …hello are you okay?" Meister groaned in response to the muffled voice. His optics flickered on, he recoiled back by the bright light that insulted his sensitive optics. The voice holding the light didn't even apologize as he started touching him. The droid tried to move away, but his joints felt like they hadn't been maintained for orns. "Half of your frame looks like you've been in stasis when there was a Council. What's your name?"

Meister frowned before something that the mech said caught his attention. He sat up and looked at him with his optics wide and alert. The mech in front of him was white with red accents, and had unfamiliar mark. "Excuse me 'when there _was _a Council'? That can't be right, Alchemist was recovering from that attack on the Council. Where's Prima, I need to speak to him."

"Woah, woah there kid." The mech dropped the tool onto the small cart that was next him, and gently pushed the mechanism back on the cold metal slab. "You are clearly suffering from major processor damage and some heavy circuits. The old Council all killed each other."

The droid shook his helm while trying to pull away from the Cybertronian that looked like he was trying to be a medic which was weird because this mech was missing the medic sigil on his arms. Meister shook his helm until something twinkled in the corner of his vision and he panicked all over again. The mech was struggling to restrain the mechanism, and he had to call for help when Meister managed to get a few punches in. The droid fell to the ground and dragged himself to the other side of the room, and pull down the metal tray. Meister's visors clattered to the ground and two small items slid across the floor. Before the droid could grab them, two pairs of arms pulled him onto his peds.

"No, let me go! I need to find my family! I need to talk to the Council!" Meister started kicking and tried to even bite one of the medics. The medic that he had first seen was turning his helm to the side to initiate stasis lock, but he couldn't find the port. He didn't know what else to do beside sending a short burst of electricity through the silver mechanism's systems via his neck. Meister screamed loudly before crashing.

When Meister onlined again, he finally noticed his surroundings. It had some familiar instruments hanging from the ceiling, walls, and even had some strewed about on counters. He turned his helm to the side to see that there were screens standing beside him with thin wires attaching from them to his chest plate. Looking down, Meister noticed that he had a pair of stasis cuffs holding him to the berth. The sound of the door opening was quick to pull his attention; it was the mech from before. "Oh good, you're online. Took nearly an entire deca-cycle for us to repair you enough to online, now maybe you can help me figure out what you are. You have no spark, but you clearly aren't a spark eater or one of the sparkless."

"I'm not telling you anything until you return me my stuff and tell me where the Council is." Meister lunged quickly at the medic, but he stopped when he saw two chips dangling from his digits. He settled down quickly, even backed away from him. "Put those down, in fact give them to me. You don't know what you have there."

The medic saw the pure fear in the strange colored optics, offering them to Meister, "I scanned them, and they aren't circuits like I thought. You can have them back on three conditions; you tell me your name, who gave you your upgrades, and your word that you won't cause any more problems for me or my staff."

Meister cautiously took the chips from the mech after nodding in agreement with the terms. He remained silent as the mech removed the cuff from his wrist, until he finally looked up with that look of needing to know the truth. "Did you see a mech with Predacon features or two younglings that look alike?"

"Predacons? They've been extinct for nearly a century, those lucky to survive are now dumber than a nail. And I will need a visual of these younglings." The medic crossed his arms with a small gesture at Meister, silently telling him that it was his turn answer questions.

"My name is Meister, a company called Artificial Life, and I promise I will refrain from attacking you or your staff. And who are you?" He knew the medic hadn't seen Star or Saber because their chips were now in his servo. The droid only hoped that Casper was online and safe somewhere. There had to be a logical reason as to why they weren't in their frames or why he couldn't remember centuries of his memories. "You, are not afraid or disgusted with me. Why?"

The medic looked at the silver mechanism with confusion, "why would I be afraid of you? I go by Ratchet. What is Artificial Life, I haven't heard of them?" Meister didn't know whether to smile or frown at this news. If this mech didn't know who or what AL was, then the Council did it, they got rid of his creators.

"Because I am not like you. Artificial Life was a company that rose into power as the leading company for drones. The founder, Gearshaft, was an engineer that was known for his artificial intelligence expertise. It took him over four hundred trials to create the first successful AI droid. After the first successful batch, Gearshaft sold over seven trillion droid of various models." Meister covered his mouth quickly as he turned his back from Ratchet. He leaned forward with his servos going up his face as a groan. Meister started hitting the sides of his helm as he muttered to himself. "Stupid, stupid, stupid processor. Why can't I break these protocols?"

Ratchet was quick to grab the silver servos from anymore self-harm. "None of that now, calm down and explain to me. I can't help you if you won't help me. Understand?" Meister looked into the blue optics with a big frown on his face. He remembered this look; it was the same look Alchemist gave him when they were first learning to trust each other. Streaks of blue slid down his face plates as memories replayed in his processor. The droid looked back at the door behind him. "Meister, do you understand?"

"I, understand." The Polyhexian sat up straighter while placing the chips inside a compartment in his wrist. He slowly slid off the medical berth and started walking towards the table his visors layed broken. A saddened sigh escaped him, "and these were my favorite pair." The silver mechanism looked behind him and saw that Ratchet was standing there watching him with that all too familiar expression. He was being studied; Meister was always studied, everyone trying to figure out what made him tick. "Staring is rude."

"Well you only had your oil levels increased and you act as if you just got reenergized. Why were you hitting yourself? And what is an AI droid?" Ratchet was clearly as inquisitive as Alchemist was, which got a small chuckle from Meister.

The silver mech held the visors close to his chest with a shake of his helm. "I refuse to answer any more questions medic Ratchet. I'm sorry, but we only just met, and I don't know if I can trust you. Now that I'm repaired and properly fueled, I will take my leave. Is Maccadam's still around?"

The medic stood there in shock before he quickly grabbed Meister's shoulder, which caused him to get personal with the nearby wall. He grunted in pain from the harsh movement. "Meister, what did we agree on after I fixed you? I'm a medic, I won't hurt you. Okay?"

"You did fix me," Meister pulled Ratchet away from the wall and looked him in the optics. "Okay, I'm sorry. Can I think about my current predicament? Alone?"

The medic frowned at the droid, and his gyros screamed at him that there was something not right about this, but he was going to trust that perhaps this one patient will actually rest. He gathered his tools and snatched the visors from the staring Polyhexian, slipping the broken pair into his toolbox. "I will have a friend of mine repair these while you recharge, I'll come check on you in thirty kliks and I expect to find you in that berth when I do."

"Is that an order?" Meister frowned at the white and red mech when he took his visors.

"No, it is a suggestion." Ratchet made one final glance over at the Polyhexian before leaving him alone. Meister waited a bit before finally making a move; he looked around for any cameras before shifting into a small Insecticon and scurried under the door. He took a mental note that the sensors were still slag against anything that was smaller than cyber cat. The droid was trying to figure out where the exit was, but when several peds nearly crushed him during an out of the blue rush, Meister blindly went one direction.

He climbed up the wall to avoid any chances of being smashed. The droid needed to find Maccadam, no Vector, he would be able to answer his questions on what happened and why he can't remember anything after having a nice time with his family. Meister stopped in his tracks when he just realized that none of the signs were in the traditional Neocybex. "But then who downloaded this new lan- Ratchet, that explains why I feel off."

"Hey, did you hear that?" A mech holding a medical datapad stopped with a femme stopping too. The mech looked around for the origin of the voice, but he shook his helm when no one in the halls stood out. "Weird, I could have sworn."

"Clearly you need more time off Amb." The femme teased the mech as she dragged him to their original destination.

Meister followed after them until he saw a large sign above a pair of doors that said 'exit'. He dropped from the ceiling and shifted into a mech that looked like a mech that belonged there when the hall was cleared. He looked around before hurrying for the exit. When he stepped outside, Meister froze in absolute disbelief at what he was looking at. The once clear Cybertron sky was now filled with smog from flying transits and factories scattering the horizon. The droid did a small turns in disbelief at what his home was turned into.

_"Meister, run now!"_

"Casper?" Meister jerked his helm around expecting to see his conjux endura landing behind him, but he was only greeted with silence. He felt a small surge of anger at not knowing anything besides that solar cycle. The Polyhexian looked around before shifting into his technohawk form and flew for Maccadam's to get answers. He landed on a light pole across the street from the bar, it was just as busy as ever and looked exactly as he remembered except the sound from inside. It sounded very odd, but also had a very noticeable beat which indicated to be some form of music. Meister was going to have to investigate later, but he was more focused on getting his answers. He dove done before shifting into his astro fox form, Meister remembered that this form was often the quote mascot of the council with how often he took this form when citizens came to them. The mech ignored the surprised patrons as he ran through the crowd, straight for the bar and jumped onto the counter.

"Ahh, how the slag did this thing get in!?" One of the drinkers at the bar stumbled off of his barstool. Another customer went to capture the fox, but a servo was quick to snatch the oncoming wrist while the droid growled in warning.

The pair jumped in surprise when Maccadam stopped them. "He is allowed to be in here." Meister leapt behind the counter before trotting into the back of the bar. He shifted when Maccadam closed the door behind him. The bar owner locked the door before his current appearance transformed into Vector Prime. "Do not worry about them, they will simply think I have come to check on you for a couple kliks." The Prime spoke with a tone that confused the droid.

"You sound angry with me?" Meister couldn't recall anything he did to cause such anger.

"If I do recall, you blamed me for not warning my brothers and sisters for Megatronus' betrayal." Vector crossed his arms and glared at him. Meister's face twisted in confusion by this statement.

He shook his helm with a gesture at the door, "Megatronus did what? No, he wouldn't hurt any of you. And I would never blame you for anything, you don't see all of your visions. Vector, I don't understand what you are talking about. I was with Casper and then I online to this weird medic fixing me, and Cybertron is different and speaking a strange language." Meister's frame started rippling as he paced in front of the Prime. "I am so confused, the medic said Alchemist is offline but that can't be true! He can't be offline, he just can't!"

"Meister," Vector Prime put a servo on the silver mechanism's arm to stop him from his pacing. The amber optics looked up at him with a look of dread and honest confusion, "do you not remember anything after that rally?"

The droid shook his helm with his servos going to the white and maroon mech's wrists. "Please tell me that the Council really isn't dead. What about Artificial Life?"

"Megatronus became… infected with something and killed everyone. I have no idea where Artificial Life went, Gearshaft has disappeared but droids can still be found in the richer parts of the cities." Vector Prime's anger at the droid subsided when he realized that he wasn't pretending to not remember any of this information. "Let me show you. Come."

A teal colored light appeared in front of the pair, and Vector Prime didn't give Meister any time to give his consent on going through. On the other side of the light was the Council room, and Meister was met with Megatronus tossing Onyx Prime to the ground and his armor splattered with energon. Vector Prime pulled Meister behind a pillar as they watched the Council members rush their brother as he charged towards them. From the sidelines Meister saw his past self, standing in front of the new Prime, Nexus Prime who was the newest addition to the Council.

"None of you care about Kaon or any of the other cities that do not follow your _precious _box! I have been your obedient puppet long enough and now it's time for our time to rise! Starting with the death of you!" Megatronus was hysteric and was fighting off everyone while the guards were evacuating the tower.

"Megatronus, we will free your people. We have promised you this. Now, please brother stop this fighting." Amalgamous wrapped his limbs around the larger Prime's arms hoping the contact alone would calm the raging mech. Megatronus jabbed his elbow into Amalgamous' voice box, causing him to release his hold out of reaction, giving the Prime enough time to turn around with his servos going around his neck. Meister gasped into his servos when the golden helm slid across the floor to his peds. Vector Prime and Meister watched as they fought viciously against the other until Megatronus stood over the bodies of almost all of the Primes. The only one left standing was Vector Prime after he carefully removed the Matrix from the chest of the deactivated form of Nexus.

"Meister, take this and run." Vector Prime handed the stunned Polyhexian the Matrix. The visored mech looked down at it and immediately tried to give it back, but the Prime shook his helm as he pushed it close to the silver chest. "No, we must not let Megatronus have the Matrix. Take it and your family, and hide. Take it off Cybertron if you have too."

"Meister," Megatronus stopped his charge hoping he could convince the droid to give him the artifact. He extended an energon stained servo with his optics burning with passion to see the Matrix in his hold. "Meister, give me the Matrix. You know why I had to kill them. They never would understand your pain at being looked at like a monster, but I do. You and I, we are the same. Treated like objects and second-class citizens. But if you give me the Matrix, I can give you the actual freedom you deserve. We could kill Gearshaft and bring down Artificial Life."

The silver droid looked down at the artifact that glowed softly in his servos. When it layed there in his servos it was like he was absorbing information, but also emotions which surprised the droid. It felt like all of the Primes were around him telling him to run while Megatronus was still there trying to convince him otherwise. His chest plate clicked open and he placed the Matrix inside before closing up with his armor clicking in anticipation. "I'm sorry Megatronus, but you will have to kill me before I allow you to corrupt our home."

"You fool!" Megatronus roared before quickly charging for the retreating mechanism. Vector Prime tackled his brother to the ground, and the same teal light that brought them here opened up behind the two Primes on the ground. "Meister, run now!"

The silver droid shifted his legs into ones of a Velocitronian and zipped out of the room as the light absorbed the two. Meister was in such a state of shock that he didn't realize that Vector Prime took them back to the present until the mech spoke. "And you disappeared for nearly two centuries before word got around that the Matrix was floating around again. And when I tried to ask you about it in Polyhex, you refused to answer me."

"Wha- but I don't remember any of that!" Meister whipped around to face Vector Prime. "What happened to Alch? Casper, Star, Saber? What happened to Mask?"

"I-I don't know my friend. When I went to go see Alchemist at his home, his body was being carried off by medics. They told me that someone killed him. And Mask's base of operation was blown up, enforcers said it was due to all of the ruby dust collecting in the warehouse." Meister's optics widened instantly, and both servos went to his mouth at the news. "But there were no bodies found, so they could have made it out."

With this news, a sigh of relief escaped the droid at even the smallest of hopes that Mask is out there somewhere safe. If Mask was still a group, then Casper and the twins' bodies could be safe in hiding! "Then Casper and the twins could be somewhere safe! And what about the Matrix? I don't have it at all."

"Perhaps the Matrix suppressed your memories to protect?" Vector Prime rubbed his chin in thought. They didn't know the full powers of the Matrix, so it isn't too unrealistic that in order to protect itself the artifact would erase the droid's memory banks. Meister put a servo to his helm with his legs buckling under him. The Prime dropped to his knee just in time to catch the silver helm from hitting the floor. "Meister, Meister what's wrong?"

"Oil… low… frame… shutting…-own." Meister placed a servo to his helm as he felt himself detach from his shell. The droid's chest involuntarily opened up as his optics started to flicker. When Meister's optics turned back on, he realized that he was back in the hospital room he escaped from. He sat up quietly and was greeted with Maccadam speaking to Ratchet.

"You must keep him safe; his life could be in danger if Artificial Life is still around." Maccadam smacked the back of his servo into his other one.

Ratchet put his servos on his hips, one servo held a datapad that had Meister's designation on it. He looked annoyed and had that air around him that said that he was more annoyed with the droid than the bartender. "I can't just keep someone here! I have patients that need these rooms. As soon as he is able to fend for himself then he has to go, that is the rules."

"What if he helps you with your patients? He could stay here and work for you." Maccadam gestured at the silent silver mechanism. That was when they both noticed that Meister was online. The bartender dropped his arm as they looked at each other in a state of awkwardness. "Oh, you're online. How are you feeling my friend?"

Meister looked down at himself as he did a quick scan of his systems. "I am functional. My oil reserves are full, and all systems are green. Is what you said true, that AL are still looking for me?" There was a mute nod from the mech, and Meister climbed off the berth with his servos clenching tightly. "Then the medic speaks the truth, I cannot stay here. They will stop at nothing to get me; I will have to go on the run."

"Don't be ridiculous Meister, you have no credits and no one else we knew is online. The medic can help you with remaining hidden." Maccadam stepped closer to the Polyhexian with the fists going into his servos. "You will be safest here where you can remain hidden, even help the people. Just like before."

"Is that an order? I have no code holder V-Maccadam, what am I supposed to do about that? I do not even know how long I have survived without one." The droid brought a servo to his chest plate as a frown formed on his lips. He shook his helm in disbelief that someone who he confided in was actually wanting him to trust a complete stranger. That went against everything Alchemist and Wicker taught him.

Maccadam rested a servo on the silver shoulder as if he knew Meister was not going to agree so easily. He pulled the droid away from receptor shot of the medic that was clearly listening to them. The disguised Prime turned his back to Ratchet as he folded his arms over his chest to avoid gesturing too much. "I know that all of your functioning you have trusted and depended on Alchemist, Mask, and Casper, but right now I- Cybertron needs you. You are the only one who knows where the Matrix is and getting into the vault."

"Why not go back in time and ask me where I hid it?" The droid shook his helm as he whispered to match the tone of his friend.

"Because the last time I saw you before you disappeared again, you made a vow to never work with the Council again. Alchemist's deactivation really hurt you. Meister, please just try to work with this medic until you can remember anything that could help us. Without the Matrix in the servos of a Prime, we could very well lose any chance of Cybertron being safe." His servo flew to the side as his voice rose slightly.

Meister looked over the other's shoulder to get a glance at the staring medic. His attention went straight back to the blue mech in front of him. The droid's frame started rippling as emotions started to rise up again, but he forced them back down as he nodded stiffly. "Okay, I will help the medic and look for the Matrix. What happened to Megatronus? Is he-"

"He is in a permanent sleep until the Council is rebuilt." Maccadam spoke with a sorrowful tone in his words and an expression in his optics to match. Meister felt a twinge of sadness because he understood the Prime's pain. Just like him, Vector Prime had everything, and they were taken from him in a blink of an optic. The droid curled his fits when a voice in the back of his processor told him that it was the Council's fault for taking his family from him, and that he knew very well what happened to Casper and the twins. He shook his helm when the voices grew louder; Maccadam just barely touched the silver mechanism's servo before the droid smacked it away from him. "Meister, what is wrong?"

"It's all yer fault! Cas, dah twins, my people would be only if ya only stopped Artificial Life!" Meister's optics fizzled from amber to a bright red, his digits grew sharper, and his horns grew sharper. He shouted in his anger as he shifted into his wolf form. Ratchet new was surprised in all his onlining, but to see something like this happen was absolutely new to him. Meister went to tackle Maccadam in all his new found rage, but Ratchet jumped right in front of him. The wolf slid to a stop as he growled, not wanting to hurt a medic.

_Some times the occupation a mech has tells you a lot about them._

Meister shook his helm when he heard Alchemist's words ring in his processor. Ratchet held his servos out in a non-threatening way. Their gazes were locked as the medic took slow cautious steps forward. "Medic, be careful, he is unwell. Something is wrong with his reasoning circuits."

"There is nothing wrong with him other than he is clearly stressed and upset because of you." Ratchet gave the bartender a quick glare before turning back to the cyberwolf. "I know you are scared, but whatever you experienced in the past you can't let your emotions hold you in that moment. Whoever you lost, do you think they would want to see you hurt your friend or anyone innocent. If you hurt me, you will hurt all of my patients, and they have done nothing to you."

Meister's optics rippled between amber and red as if he were fighting himself. The shift was a slow and long process as if it caused the droid an immense amount of pain. He remained on the floor with a servo covering his mouth, energon fell from his optics as if he experienced death all over again. "Alch." The droid didn't know what happened, but all he could focus on was that Alchemist was clearly dying and was trying to say something to him, but his words were mute. He fell forward with his arms folding over his helm as he cried hard when the pain in his spark returned.

Ratchet placed a hesitant servo on the back of the silver frame, but when it wasn't bitten off he kept it on. "I think it's best if you-" the medic turned around to speak to Maccadam, but was greeted with empty space, "leave. Come on, you need to rest, we can talk when you have recovered some more."

The droid was too much in a state of shock and uncertainty to even argue with his coding about the command. It oddly brought a sense of wholeness at having a command, even though he knew that Alchemist and everyone who fought to give his kind freedom would be disappointed in his lack of fight. When he was taken back to the berth, he quickly grabbed the red servo and gave Ratchet a long and deep stare. "I am _not _a puppet."

"Never said you were, now rest." Ratchet finished reconnecting cables before he left the room with one more glance over his shoulder. He shook his helm as he continued to go check on his other patients.

* * *

I am deeply sorry for my absence, I have been dealing with a lot of personal stuff, but I am not going to abandon this story until I hit that complete button!


End file.
